MIES (Switzerland) - Aside from the eight teams fighting to lift the spiky trophy at the end of the season, there is another major battle set to climax during the Final Four weekend.

That's the Season MVP Race, and we will keep track of players' progress all the way until the end of the Quarter-Finals.

To figure out who has the best chances to win the award, we have to take a look at the profiles of previous MVPs in the Basketball Champions League.

Jordan Theodore, Manny Harris, Tyrese Rice, Keith Langford, Bonzie Colson, Chima Moneke and TJ Shorts II all reached the Final Four, all played crucial roles in their teams getting there, all made clutch shots during the seasons and had the numbers to prove they were the Most Valuable Players.

Chima Moneke with his trophy in 2022

With that in mind, during the MVP Race, we will have four serious questions to help us figure out who the leader is at each checkpoint:

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
(2) Is he the reason why?
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?

Since this is a column and not in any way an official ranking, we need the grand separator to figure out the leader. That's why the fifth question will always be random, to give you a hint of who's the guy in the lead.

This week, it's pure and simple:

(5) Is he one of the all-time BCL greats, who at the same time somehow never even won a single MVP of the Month award?

(See, number five is truly...wait, never!? Oh can't wait to see who it is now!)

#10 Giorgi Shermadini (Lenovo Tenerife)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yep, 8-4.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Yes, and no.
(2.25) What do you mean?
Well, he's doing fine, 11.7 points and 4.6 rebounds, but he doesn't really need to be a superhero for Tenerife this season, because of their depth. To be fair, Kyle Guy is putting up crazier, prime-Shermadini like numbers here.
(2.5) So why isn't Kyle here?
Because he only played six BCL games.
(2.75) Gotcha. So Gio is not the MVP Race leader?
Nope.

#9 Thomas Kennedy (Telekom Baskets Bonn)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 8-4.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Big time, six straight games with double digits in points, and the defending champs are 5-1 when Kennedy gets to 10+ points, 3-3 when he doesn't.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
10.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, team-high efficiency rating of 13.6 per game.
(3.5) Come on, that doesn't breathtaking.
Sure. But he's up to 14 points, 6.7 rebounds, 19 efficiency rating, +37 with him on the floor in the last six games.
(4) Oh, okay, that keeps him on the list. If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Not really. Glynn Watson, Harald Frey, Brian Fobbs, plenty of ball-handling guys on that team who want to take over.
(4.5) So he's not the leader of the MVP Race?
Nope. Great player, though. Only 23, too.

#8 Marko Todorovic (UCAM Murcia)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 9-3.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Debatable. They were already 4-1 before he even joined them. But then again, his performances were key in getting them to the Quarter-Finals.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
12.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 15.9 efficiency rating, +52 in seven games.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Sure, after Dylan Ennis, Troy Caupain, Jonah Radebaugh, Dustin Sleva and Ludvig Hakanson all take their shots.
(4.33) ...
Sorry, should've said "it's not that likely."
(4.66) Not the leader of the MVP Race?
Nope. But UCAM Murcia knocked it out of the ballpark by getting him mid-season, nobody even remembers Simon Birgander started the season as an MVP candidate in the Liga Endesa. Bravo, Marko, svaka čast!

#7 Hunter Hale (Promitheas Patras)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 9-5.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Oh yes, his fourth quarter alone against AEK BETSSON BC on the final gameday of the Round of 16 would've been somebody else's entire career highlights.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
16.8 points, 46 percent shooting on six attempts from three-point range per game, 14.1 efficiency rating. Yes.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Anthony Cowan wants to talk to you.

#6 Anthony Cowan (Promitheas Patras)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 9-5.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Yes, double digit in every single game until the last one. Two 30-point games.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
18.6 points per game, leading scorer of the entire BCL this season. Oh, 5.8 assists, 16.8 efficiency rating, too.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Hunter Hale wants to talk to you.
(4.5) What if we just had co-MVP awards? Like when Karl Malone and John Stockton won it at the NBA All-Star Game in 1993?
Then they'd be top of the of the MVP Race.

#5 Kendrick Perry (Unicaja)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Dude. 10-2.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Top scorer, top passer, top efficiency-er (that's not a real word) of the team.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
11.7 points, 4.6 assists, 14.2 efficiency rating in just 20 minutes per game.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
That's the problem here, Unicaja have been blowing out teams, we never get to see this one through. Although he did take that shot at the Final Four last season. But this season, they gave the ball to Kameron Taylor, Tyson Carter, Will Thomas in key moments, so maybe this is a no? We don't know.
(4.5) Is he the leader of the MVP Race?
Nope. But could be the MVP of the season at the end of the day, sure.

#4 Austin Wiley (Tofas Bursa)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Nope, 6-9.
(1.5) What are we doing here?
Well, they are through to the Quarter-Finals, so bear with me.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Yes, he's the reason why they are in the Quarter-Finals, leader in efficiency rating and rebounds for Tofas.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
Yep, with an average efficiency rating of 20.8, he's the top-ranked remaining player in the competition. 13.8 points, 9.3 rebounds per game, 11 times in double figures in points, five times in rebounds.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Just for the sake of reaching the fifth question, let's give this a yes, even though we know Cassius Winston, Caleb Homesley and Zeljko Sakic are right there.
(5) Is he one of the all-time BCL greats, who at the same time somehow never even won a single MVP of the Month award?
He's playing his first BCL season ever, so it's kinda hard to call him an all-time great. Remember this in a couple of years, he'll be there then.

#3 Jayvon Graves (MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 8-7.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Double digits in all but two games. NINE times in 20+ territory.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
17.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 16.6 efficiency rating. Jawohl.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Yes. Oh yes.
(5) Is he one of the all-time BCL greats, who at the same time somehow never even won a single MVP of the Month award?
This is only his second BCL season, so let's just wait a bit before we start throwing around terms like all-time great in his vicinity.

#2 Joe Ragland (Peristeri bwin)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 8-6.
(2) Is he the reason why?
You're kidding, right?
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
14.3 points, 9.6 assists (top of the BCL), seven double-doubles, 18.8 efficiency rating.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
He's making the right play. Scoring, kicking, alley-ooping, you name it.
(5) Is he one of the all-time BCL greats, who at the same time somehow never even won a single MVP of the Month award?
He is most definitely one of the all-time BCL greats, the all-time leader in double-doubles with 16, six clear of anybody else in league history. However, he's also the reigning MVP of the Month, in fact he has won that award a record four times in the BCL, so no, he's not the MVP Race leader.

#1 Marcelinho Huertas (Lenovo Tenerife)

(1) Does his team have a winning record?
Yes, 8-4.
(2) Is he the reason why?
Come on.
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
He's averaging a career-high 15.8 points, with 7.9 assists and an efficiency rating of 18.7, just a month and a half away from his 41st birthday. That's just sensational. He's scored 30+ points only four times in his career in all competitions, thrice over the past two years, and he had 20+ points in the BCL three times this season, after not getting to that mark in any of his first 65 BCL appearances. Just an incredible story of longevity, out of this world.
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
You should ask Tofas Bursa, his Quarter-Finals rival. Because two seasons ago, Tenerife won a pair of games by a single point, and Marce was the one who had the game-winning buckets both times.
(5) Is he one of the all-time BCL greats, who at the same time somehow never even won a single MVP of the Month award?
YES!!! Champ in 2022, Final Four MVP in 2022, twice in the Star Lineup First Team, once in the Star Lineup Second Team, all-time assists leader, and still, he was never the MVP of the Month in this competition. Ragland four times, Levi Randolph twice, and Hunter Hale, Vernon Carey Jr, Zach Hankins, Akil Mitchell, TJ Shorts II, Marcus Foster, Chima Moneke, David Holston, Dogus Ozdermiroglu, Brandon Brown, Ivan Buva, Jonah Radebaugh, Kasey Shepherd, Raymar Morgan, Kyle Allman, Yanick Moreira and Steven Gray all picked up the award once. But no Huertas, amazingly, inexplicably, crazily...

He is the MVP Race, leader, though. At 40 years of age!

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