Jared Butler named Most Outstanding Player of 2021 NCAA Tournament

The No. 1 seed Baylor Bears upended the No. 1 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday night to claim the 2021 NCAA men’s basketball national championship. Baylor guard Jared Butler put together a strong 2021 NCAA Tournament and is the winner of the Most Outstanding Player award.

Remember: It’s Most Outstanding Player and not Most Valuable Player because these are all amateurs just playing for the love of the game and they can’t be valuable if they don’t make any money.

Butler had 91 points, 30 assists, and 21 rebounds in the tournament. Davion Mitchell deserves credit as well, and the two of them were critical parts of a Baylor backcourt who’s shooting for three weeks is why they’re cutting down the nets in Indianapolis. Butler knocked down four threes in the title game, and the team as a whole shot 10 off 22 from beyond the arc.

Butler was +700 when the game started, and Mitchell was +250. But Butler’s 22 points and seven assists in the championship game against Gonzaga was the difference.

Here were the pre-game odds to win Most Outstanding Player in the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament from DraftKings Sportsbook:

Jalen Suggs: +100
Drew Timme: +100
Davion Mitchell: +250
Joel Ayayi: +700
Jared Butler: +700
Corey Kispert: +1500
MaCio Teague: +2000
Andrew Nembhard: +5000
Adam Flagler: +10000
Flo Thamba: +10000
Mark Vital: +10000
Matthew Mayer: +10000