OPINION

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 3:13 p.m. ET Dec. 11, 2008

Mike DeCourcy

Saturday night, the Downtown Athletic Club will present the Heisman Trophy to one of three quarterbacks who led their teams to near-perfect records and compiled statistics that bulge like Popeye's biceps.

The difference between Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow is what, exactly?

When we get to March, we will not have that problem in college basketball. Just like our football brethren, we've got three candidates standing above the rest. There are other fine players, but the winner will come from this short list.

These three are not alike, except in that each is great. That makes the race for player of the year much more intriguing.

Candidate No. 1: The reigning king
North Carolina center Tyler Hansbrough already has more player of the year trophies than he can manage, including the 2008 award from Sporting News. Receiving those honors meant that upon completing his career, his jersey will be retired alongside those of Phil Ford, James Worthy and Michael Jordan.

So if he can't have his jersey retired twice, and if he already is overrun with trophies, what does he need with this one? Well, that's not how a competitor thinks, or the Boston Celtics would be out cruising the Mediterranean right now.

Hansbrough returned for his senior season dramatically improved as an offensive player. He has continued to improve his already imposing body, which makes him more fluid when he moves along the baseline and better able to jump and hang with the other athletic big guys.

Most prominent among the enhancements to his game, though, has been Hansbrough's willingness to put to use all the time he has spent improving his jump shot. Hansbrough's numbers aren't overwhelming now, in part because he has eased into the season while recovering from a shin injury. But in the two games where he's played significant minutes he averaged 29.5 points, and North Carolina is going to be the No. 1 team for a lot of this season.

Candidate No. 2: The people's choice
What makes Davidson guard Stephen Curry different than just about any college player this decade is simply this: Every time he has the ball in his hands, he brings you forward in your seat. What might happen now? What shot might he invent? Will he create room for himself with some kind of step-back maneuver? Will he drive it and complete the play with some ridiculously creative finish? Will he throw a pass only he believes will squeeze between defenders and it does?

Curry isn't just the most exciting college player this season. He is the most exciting since, at least, Allen Iverson left Georgetown in 1996.

Playing point guard after two seasons of operating mostly as a scorer, Curry is stronger on the ball -- stronger, period -- and more daring as a passer. He has scored at least 27 points in every game this season save for the one, against Loyola (Md.), where the opposing coach employed a gimmick defense and assigned two defenders to Curry at all times. If that game were removed from the arithmetic, his scoring average would increase nearly five points to 35.1.

On a night when he was struggling with his shot, he summoned the confidence to score 13 of his team's final 15 points to lead a comeback win against West Virginia. (For the record, he wasn't "awful for 35 minutes," as some of my media colleagues have said. He had eight assists by halftime. That's a full night's work for even the best point guards, and he contributed four rebounds, four steals and two blocks).

Candidate No. 3: The audacious outsider
When the year began, it was fairly obvious 6-10 Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin was in position to play himself toward the No. 1 position in the 2009 NBA draft. Being the best pro prospect and being the best college player aren't the same thing, except that Griffin may make it so this year.

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Griffin said last spring he chose to return to Oklahoma because he felt he needed to improve before becoming a professional and because he wanted to be part of a potentially special season with the Sooners.

He has been amazing, and so has his team. OU remains undefeated, with victims including Purdue, Davidson and Southern California. And Griffin is averaging 24.4 points and 15.6 rebounds. Those numbers might settle down a bit as the season advances, but no one has averaged 15 rebounds since Larry Smith of Alcorn State in 1980.

Griffin leads OU in minutes, shots and free throws and is a perfect 2-of-2 on 3-pointers. He has become an intimidating shot-blocker inside.

Although Hollis Price, Stacey King and the great Wayman Tisdale were All-Americans, no Sooners player has won the oldest player of the year honor, the Oscar Robertson Trophy presented by the U.S. Basketball Writers.

But by the end of the year, Oklahoma could have both the Heisman and the Robertson Trophy winners.

Also on NBCSports.com Howard: Look at what Agassi is now, not was PFT: Cowboys on rise in our power rankings NCAA FB: Ready for player exodus?  |    Top juniors MLB blog: A look at the top 111 free agents Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

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