<font size="3"><font color="Blue">UKOwnstheSEC's picks</font> <font color="Green">Voodoo Child's picks</font></font> <font size="4">Player of the Year</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Chris Paul (Wake Forest) Paul has done a great job so far, averaging 15 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals a game. He's had big games like against Florida State where he put up 29; UNC game where he put up 26; and many more big games. No doubt in my mind that he will be a lottery pick in the NBA next year. Runner Up: Andrew Bogut (Utah)</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Andrew Bogut (Utah) Andrew Bogut is hands down the best player in college basketball. He dominates the NCAA like Tim Duncan dominates the NBA. Rarely do you see a player who can average twenty points and twelve rebounds on a top twenty-five team like Bogut has done. He?s only getting better as the season progresses as well. Just last week he scored twenty four points and pulled down twenty rebounds against a solid New Mexico team in an eleven point win. However, he has not only surpassed everyone?s expectations with his statistics but also with his wins. He has led Utah to a 12-3 record and the #25 ranking in ESPN?s poll. Basically, Chris Paul has nothing on him. Paul doesn?t even lead his conference in assists, doesn?t score a whole lot, and has failed to lead his team as effectively as he did last season. Hakim Warrick, Wayne Simien, JJ Redick, and Julius Hodge are the only players that I think can really challenge Andrew Bogut?s Player of the Year run. Runner Up: Hakim Warrick (Syracuse)</font> <font size="4">Freshman of the Year</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Toney Douglas (Auburn) His team may be sucking it up, but he's doing a great job in his first year. He scored 38 points against Nicholls St, 33 against Virginia, and 32 against Florida. If he only had some other options on this team to make his team better. Runner Up: Daniel Gibson (Texas)</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Daniel Gibson (Texas) I would have picked Toney Douglas, but I figured that it?s a lot easier to pad your stats when you play for a bad team like Auburn and are able to play teams like Nicholls State for 38 point performances. Daniel Gibson, on the other hand, has been putting statistics that are just as good if not better than Douglas'. He averages 13.6 ppg (17th in the Big 12), 3.1 rpg, 4.3 apg (5th in the Big 12), and shoots 76% (17th in the Big 12) from the line. Most importantly though, he is the leader, catalyst, and main option on the #13 team in the nation. If you put Douglas in his shoes, I doubt his statistics would be nearly as flattering. Runner Up: Malik Hairston (Oregon)</font> <font size="4">Coach of the Year</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Al Skinner (Boston College) Again, he's got Boston College team playing solid ball and has yet to lose a game. He has a tough schedule ahead, so he most likely won't stay undefeated much longer. Runner Up: Bruce Webber (Illinois)</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Bob Thomason (U of the Pacific) In his 17th season at Pacific, Bob Thomason?s team is just starting to get national attention. The Tigers are 16-2 overall and are a perfect 10-0 in league play. As it currently stands, the Tigers are only a few votes away from being ranked, and with both Mississippi State and Iowa losing this week, they should crack the rankings on Monday. This is tremendous success for a team that was not even picked by most people to win the Big West. Runner Up: Al Skinner (Boston College)</font> <font size="4">Most Surprising Team</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Boston College Boston College has come out of no where and haven't lost a game thus far. They've played great so far but have had a few bumpy games where they barely got by, like the 3 point win over Holy Cross. And they've had games where they upset UConn. So it's going to be exciting to see how they finish. Runner Up: Oklahoma</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Boston College This was the easiest pick for me to make. Before the season started, not one of the thirty-one coaches voting in the ESPN poll ranked Boston College. In fact, three weeks into the season they still only had one vote to be ranked. Eight weeks later, they?re still undefeated with wins over West Virginia, Connecticut, and Villanova. Right now they could even make it as high as a #2 ranking next week. Runner Up: Iowa</font> <font size="4">Most Disappointing Team</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Memphis No doubt about this one. Memphis was expected to me a contender in the C-USA, but all they've been is a dweller. With a 11-9 record, they'll be heading to the NIT instead of the big tourney. Runner Up: Providence</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Notre Dame Out of all the midseason awards we are doling out tonight, this one required the most thought. While most people would consider Memphis the most disappointing team this season, I never expected much out of them to begin with. The only two teams that aren?t meeting my expectations are Michigan and Notre Dame, and Michigan has had more injuries and suspensions than just about any other team in the nation, so I?m cutting them some slack. Notre Dame on the other hand has just plain underachieved, thanks in large part to underachiever Torin Francis, a former McDonald?s High School All-American who is just averaging a mere eight points and eight rebounds this season. Notre Dame had one of the easiest schedules in the nation for a preseason top twenty-five team. Their toughest games were against DePaul and Michigan; Notre Dame lost both. They started off Big East play with a bang, beating both Seton Hall and Villanova. However, since that 2-0 start they are 2-3 in the Big East with bad losses to Syracuse and Georgetown. Things aren?t looking better either. Right now their next four games are against ranked opponents; Connecticut, at Syracuse, Boston College, and at Pittsburgh. Barring an upset or two, they could very well be 12-9 after those four games and out of the NCAA tournament picture completely. Runner Up: Stanford</font> <font size="4">Most Surprising Player</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Ike Diogu (Arizona State) His team isn't doing too good, but he's really lighting it up. Has scored at least 10+ every game this year, and is averaging 21 points 10 rebounds and 2 blocks a game. It's unfortunate that he doesn't have any other weapons or else this team would be fighting to win the Pac-10. Runner Up: Julius Hodge (North Carolina State)</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Quemont Greer (DePaul) Who would have guessed that Quemont Greer, DePaul?s third option last season, would not only be the leading scorer in Conference USA this season but also one of the leading candidates for Conference USA Player of the Year? Who would have guessed the twelve point per game scorer would have turned into a twenty-one point per game scorer who also averages eight rebounds per game? Not I. Runner Up: Luther Head (Illinois) </font> <font size="4">Most Disappointing Player</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Drew Lavender (Oklahoma) He's not doing good at all so far, but luckily other teammates are stepping it such as Gray and Bookout. Lavender emerged as one of the best guards in the Big 12 last year, but has really started to fade this year. His production has dropped from 11 points a game last year, to 9 points a game this year. He's still young(sophmore), he can still improve his game Runner Up: Jonathan Modica (Arkansas)</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Brian Butch (Wisconsin) Brian Butch was ranked by pretty much all publications at a top ten recruit out of High School. He played well in the High School All-American game, won the High School 2-ball contest, and even sat out his Freshman year so he could put on some weight and gain a better understanding of the game. Most people thought Butch, a rare 7-0 big man, could dominate this season against much undersized competition. Assuming this would hold true, most experts picked Wisconsin as a preseason top ten or top fifteen pick. However, Butch is only averaging roughly five points and three rebounds this season in twelve minutes of action. More importantly though, Butch has let the Badgers down in big games. He was held scoreless against Michigan State, scored only two points against Alabama, was held scoreless in a loss against Indiana, and didn?t even play against Illinois. He is hands down this season?s biggest underachiever. Runner Up: Torin Francis (Notre Dame)</font> <font size="4">Most Underrated Player</font> <font color="Blue">UK's Pick: Guillermo Diaz (Miami) This sharpshooter out of Miami has came out of no where this season and has out up good stats. He's second in the ACC with 18 points a game, and has his team a 13-5 record which is good for a Miami basketball team. Runner Up: Pierre Pierce (Iowa)</font> <font color="Green">VC's Pick: Danny Granger (New Mexico) There is no doubt in my mind that Danny Granger is the most underrated player in the NCAA. Most of you just know him as that midmajor most mock drafts project in the late first round, but nobody really knows much about him on JustBBall. In fact, it seems like nobody really knows much about him on ESPN. He?s never on the highlights and they never profile New Mexico games. However, over the last three years Granger has consistently averaged about nineteen points and nine rebounds per game. This year he?s also averaging 2.3 blocks per game. With that said, it?s hard to understand why people don?t pay more attention to him. Runner Up: Adam Morrison (Gonzaga)</font>
Haha, I would've put way more though into my logic, but I didn't want to make the post too long. I forgot all about Notre Dame. Thomas, Francos, and crew hasn't lived up to the early season hype just yet, and the schedule doesn't look to be getting any easier. Overall, I made my posts short and sweet, and you went in-depth and made it look much better than my lousy three liners...haha
Most disappointing person to me(mainly because all I do is watch the Gators) is David Lee, he was predicted to be All-SEC 1st team and he has some great games. Today he had a very good game and we won, but he got like 2 pts 4 boards on 2 shots in an earlier loss to FSU. He is just very inconsistent.
I dissagree, Sportsrock. David Lee had a bad game against Florida State and a bad game against Georgia today, but other than that he's been pretty consistant. His points per game average is down, but his rebounding numbers are way up. Overall, he's the same player he was last season. That's why I wouldn't consider him to be as big of a let down as Brian Butch. Coming into this season you can imagine how high the expectations were for Butch. He was a former top ten recruit and High School All-American, but this season he's only averaging about five points and three rebounds per game. That's not what you expect out of an All-American Center. Now Wisconsin has a big void to fill at Center. I also wouldn't consider David Lee to be as big of a disappointment as Torin Francis. Just like Butch, Francis was also a High School All-American. He had been doing well in the NCAA play, averaging roughly fourteen points and nine rebounds per game, but most people still expected him to have a breakout year this year and become an All-American. However, he's actually having a worse year this year than he did last year. He's only averaging roughly eight points and eight rebounds per game. Notre Dame was counting on way more from him. They really needed Francis to have a big season, and he's the major reason why they're the most disappointing team this year. Also, Torin Francis is possibly the most inconsistant player in the NCAA, way more than David Lee is. In one streak of four games he scored thirteen points, two points, zero points, and then fifteen points. It's been like that all season for him. He'll go on streaks where he'll score only three, four, or five points and two rebounds, and then he'll explode for fifteen or sixteen points and fourteen rebounds the next night.
Great idea, boys. I enjoyed reading that. UKOwns had a great runner-up pick for Most Disappointing Team. PC was a tournament team last year, and with Ryan Gomes returning instead of opting for the draft, expectations for them were very high. They have been garbage a.k.a. rubbish a.k.a. trash a.k.a. junk this year. They have yet to win a conference game, and it's not looking much better for them as the season moves along. Tim Welsch needs to be F-I-R-E-D.
Good list, but there is no way Toney Douglas is Freshman of the Year over Ronald Steele. Without Steele, Alabama struggles. With(or without) Douglas, Auburn is still at the bottom of the SEC plus teams have figured him out. Other than that, good list.
Nuh uh, jagman ranting about an Alabama player? Never saw this coming. I agree with a lot of the comments made. Nice job you two, wish I could have gotten in on this a little, but a good read. Excellent work. VC, couple comments on Andrew Bogut. I've taken notice in him too. I must say, he is a well-deserving player of the year and he has really played well this season. What is his height? I've had a little dispute over it with a couple people, I'm seeing that he is 7'0 but they are claiming he is 6'10 which I think is wrong. Do you know? The reason that came about is on another forum, someone tried to mention that Sheldon Williams is the best center in the nation, which I laughed at because he's not the best center, Bogut is the best center, maybe even the best player in the nation. Memphis being the most dissapointhing this season is a no brainer. Many people had them finishing high in the CUSA and some even picking them to win. With all sorts of problems with Sean Banks(suspension earlier, not cant even play in the league anymore), this team is lucky to even make it to the NIT. Carney is all they seem to have going for them now, with Darius who has seemed to step it up a little bit on the offensive end. A player to be mentioned for most underrated, Travis Deiner. This guy if definitely key to Marquette's success and they are nothing without him. He is never mentioned when asked about top PG's. It's mostly all about Chris Paul, Ray Felton, Gerry McNamara, etc. You very rarely see Deiner getting publicity for what he does. He's averaging 20 PPG, rougly 6.5 APG, and around 3 RPG. Indeed Marquette is struggling, but Deiner has been out of the lineup. He is definitely the star for Marquette.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">VC, couple comments on Andrew Bogut. I've taken notice in him too. I must say, he is a well-deserving player of the year and he has really played well this season. What is his height? I've had a little dispute over it with a couple people, I'm seeing that he is 7'0 but they are claiming he is 6'10 which I think is wrong. Do you know? The reason that came about is on another forum, someone tried to mention that Sheldon Williams is the best center in the nation, which I laughed at because he's not the best center, Bogut is the best center, maybe even the best player in the nation.</div> As far as I know, Andre Bogut is 6-10. However, many sites (like NBADraft.Net I think) list him at 7-0. I'm not sure if that's just projected or if they just feel like they can up his stock by adding some inches. Whatever the case is, he'll be a hell of a pro player. Height is not an issue when you are that fierce under the boards; just look at Zach Randolph and Carlos Boozer who are a lot shorter than Bogut.
I was watching a Utah game early in the season, and the announcer (I forget who it was), was ranting and raving about how Bogut was a true 7-footer, and that he didn't understand why people were saying otherwise. I know that's not the best source of information, but he was very convincing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">As far as I know, Andre Bogut is 6-10. However, many sites (like NBADraft.Net I think) list him at 7-0. I'm not sure if that's just projected or if they just feel like they can up his stock by adding some inches. Whatever the case is, he'll be a hell of a pro player. Height is not an issue when you are that fierce under the boards; just look at Zach Randolph and Carlos Boozer who are a lot shorter than Bogut.</div> Only reason I'm mentioning it is because the people I was in discussion with were saying they don't consider him a center which I think is totally bogus...
