Postseason media awards: Does anyone care?
I'd be curious to know how much attention the typical college basketball fan pays to postseason awards/honors voted on by media types, i.e. ACC player of the year, All-Americans, all-freshmen teams.
I know the fan interest is intense on matters that affect their teams -- BCS standings in football, NCAA tournament seedings in basketball -- but how long does an ACC player of the year stick in our memories? I know preseason POYs are quickly forgotten, unless it serves the purpose of illustrating how big a disappointment someone's season was. Take Raymond Felton last year or Chris Duhon the previous year.
These all-this-and-that teams are fun for debating purposes, at the least. It certainly is for sports writers, anyway. Neil Amato of the Herald-Sun and I racked our brains trying to come up with more than three players for the five-member ACC all-freshman team while in College Park on Sunday. After Marvin Williams, Sean Singletary and DeMarcus Nelson, we hit a wall.
Radio man Woody Durham pointed out to Roy Williams after UNC's win over the Terps how amazing it is that the Heels hadn't had an ACC player of the week all season -- that honor is bestowed by the league office, I believe. I'm not sure he was implying an anti-Carolina bias at Grandover, but he seemed a bit perturbed.
Well, that streak ended. Raymond Felton was POW after averaging 15.5 points, 8.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds in wins over N.C. State and Maryland. He hit the game-winning basket against the Terps.
In the office debates over ACC coach of the year, we haven't talked much about Roy Williams. It's gone from favoring Miami's Frank Haith to Va Tech's Seth Greenberg to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who normally can't be credited with overachieving. But what about Roy? Going from 19-11 and slightly dysfunctional to 24-3, No. 2 in the country and a title contender with the same group (and sometimes without Rashad McCants) is pretty impressive.
I get a vote, and I admit, I'm reconsidering.
Comments (3)
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What? No Cliff Hammonds on the All-Freshman team? Typically Tobacco Road bias against Clemson.
Seriously, your points about the post-season awards are valid. And why the Wood-man was so upset by the ACC POW snub is certainly a mystery.
Let's face it, the primary purpose of those awards is sort of like this blog - to generate debate. Sort of like the AP and Coaches' polls. Does anyone remember who finished wear in the final regular season poll last season? Not likely, but I'll bet a lot of people spent a lot of time debating who should be ranked where.
Posted on March 1, 2005 9:51 AM
Don't you worry, Jim, Hammonds will be on my ballot. Clemson is not forgotten, I swear. I was really just trying to make a point that this freshman class seems way thinner than usual.
Posted on March 1, 2005 1:09 PM
Thursday's Charlotte/Louisville matchup will determine Conference USA player of the year. Bobby Lutz is one of the 10 finalists for national Coach of the Year.
Charlotte's Eddie Basden could be national defensive player of the year. ESPN thinks he is.
Posted on March 1, 2005 1:39 PM