Conference USA awards predictions

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR:
jamal bienimey, utep

At the very least, Bienimey is going to provide UTEP with a veteran on-court presence, which is good considering the amount of roster turnover the Miners are dealing with. Yet Bienimey also has a dynamic skill set he wasn’t able to fully utilize at Oklahoma, hence the decision to transfer after his sophomore season.

The 6-5, 187-pounder will likely play a good deal of point guard for UTEP. That’s a good thing and should help get the most out of his skill set. He was 21st in the Big 12 in assist rate despite never being the primary on-court ball-handler for the Sooners, and this was after he ranked 5th as a freshman in a slightly larger role.

UTEP doesn’t have a lot of obvious offensive firepower, so Bienimey will have the requisite usage rate to post quality numbers. And, as a 6-5 point guard, he will pose some matchup problems for opponents.