Basketball Articles
Big XII Awards
Posted by ursa major on March 8th, 2010 under Basketball, Women's Basketball
The Big XII Awards have been announced… how did the Bears fare?
Men’s BB
Ekpe Udoh was the Bears’ most decorated player this season, earning a spot on the All-Big XII 2nd Team, the All-Big XII Defensive Team, and the All-Big XII Rookie Team. He was also chosen as the Big XII Newcomer of the Year.
I’ve seen and heard a great bit of discussion on whether or not Udoh should have been named to the 1st Team, as well as whether he should have been the Defensive Player of the Year. As far as the 1st Team argument goes, I understand why he was named to the 2nd Team but I don’t agree with it. All of the players named to the 1st Team are clearly the drivers’ of their respective teams’ success, but I think taking Udoh away from Baylor would hurt more than taking any of those guys from their teams aside from James Anderson. OSU might have gone 3-13 in conference play without him. If I had to bump someone, I guess it would have to be Donald Sloan.
I don’t have any problem with Cole Aldrich being chosen as Defensive Player of the Year over Udoh. Season ending awards are more likely to be given to those on better teams, and DPOY awards are specifically given to players whose teams play great defense. I think we play good defense, but we don’t play great defense. Granted, take Udoh away and we’re left with Lomers in the middle. We’d be way worse. But Kansas is the 5th best defensive squad in the country according to Kenpom.com; we’re only 47th. Furthermore, while Udoh averaged 9.8 boards a game to Aldrich’s 9.7, that stat is deceptive, because Udoh had a far higher percentage of his boards on the offensive end that Aldrich.
Lacedarius Dunn was chosen for the All-Big XII 2nd Team. Again…I think Lace has had a tremendous year, but he has been no better and no more important to us than any of the guys on the 1st Team. Granted, he was the second leading scorer in the conference at 19.2 PPG, but the guys chosen ahead of him had great years. I also think people have a perception that Lace’s shot selection is awful, and they tend to hold that against him. If bad shot selection has led to him shooting 42.2% from 3 point range, I’m willing to live with that. I’d rather have Lacedarius on my team than Donald Sloan, but Sloan basically played the Big XII season with one competent teammate (Bryan “Alien” Davis).
Tweety Carter is on the All-Big XII 3rd Team. I find this absolutely ridiculous. Tweety averaged 6.31 APG to lead the conference – that was a full one assist per game higher than second place John Roberson. Tweety also scored 15.8 PPG, good for 10th place in the Big XII. The 2nd team had three Fs and 2 Gs, and Denis Clemente had a remarkable season for K State. He deserves the honor. Marcus Morris, on the other hand, does not. Morris was only 12th in the conference in rebounding, and 20th in scoring, and did not block enough shots to be listed in the top 20. If you can find me a coach who would rather have Marcus Morris’s 2009-2010 season than Tweety Carter’s, I will tell you that your coach is leading a team that just finished 8th place in the SWAC.
Women’s BB
Baylor’s resident welterweight Brittney Griner cleaned up in the lady version of the All-Big XII Awards. She was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year. She was also named to the All-Big XII First Team, All-Big XII Defensive Team, and the All-Big XII Rookie Team.
No other Bears received honors. I have nothing more to add about Women’s Basketball. Mentioning it twice within the span of a week is enough.
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distantkin said:
March 8th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Well Ursa, I think you make solid points, but I would rather have Marcus than Tweety. My thought process is that Marcus has both inside and outside game and he came up HUGE when he had to. Marcus knows his role well and if Cole isn’t on his team, he averages 18 and 10 a game. I was at the BU/KU game and I was thoroughly impressed with the Bears. Lace was unbelievable and the supporting cast scared the hell out of me with length and athleticism. I made a comment on OreadBoomKings after that game I could see BU winning 10+ in the Big 12 conference. Guess I was off by one. You guys and A&M I would not want to see again in either tournament, even though in my Big12 bracket I have KU/BU in the championship game. Good luck!
Steve Bartman said:
March 8th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Ursa – the All Conference teams are a
combo of the obvious and the lifetime achievement.
Good squad I’m Waco this year. Looking to see if they upset any applecarts in the dance this year.
growler said:
March 9th, 2010 at 5:24 am
Setting the big 12 conference record in blocks and failing to make defensive player of the year or first team does not compute.I think only Rick Barnes would put a team on the floor that doesn’t include an athletic record breaking shot blocker.
I can see under certain circumstances where someone other than Udoh might be DPOY but not Aldrich. In their single face to face meeting in Lawrence shows the bears shooting over 50% and the Jayhawks being held under 50% for the first time all year. A game in which Aldrich had zero blocks, 1 steal and 4 defensive rebounds while Udoh had 4 rebounds, 1 block and zero steals. All things being equal I would take the record breaker over that guy.
distantkin said:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:12 am
Growler: Throughout the season everytime the media showed Cole’s numbers, I would always see #2 on blocked shots and I knew that Udoh was legit and had a damn good chance of making DPOY. However, to make your judgement on the BU/KU game stats alone doesn’t give Aldrich the credit he deserves. Many teams in the conference wouldn’t even sniff the paint while driving b/c Cole is such a defensive presence. Not saying Udoh isn’t deserving, but Cole is legit and I hope for a rematch in the Big 12 championship to maybe sway your thoughts a little.
Hiphopopotamus said:
March 9th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Certainly I’m as biased as Distant, but I’d agree on both Morris and Aldrich.
The stats don’t, and won’t, support the Morris argument, but he was the most consistent player – especially the first 8-10 games – for the team that won the league by 4 games. Coaches remember that and that’s why he’s there.
As for Aldrich v Udoh, it’s all about what he lets the other guys do. Udohs is a handful more blocks, but the FG% allowed for the year is a much better # for KU and a big piece of that is Aldrich allowing our guards to pressure, because he’s waiting for them in the paint. Maybe Udoh does these things too, but it’s harder to discern (and give credit for) that when he’s just playing a spot in a zone, as opposed to anchoring the paint.
(As for citing the stats of one game, it’s probably worthwhile to note that that game was the only one in which Aldrich didn’t have a block, and until the last week of the season, was the only in which he didn’t have multiple blocks.)
I can’t believe you guys aren’t sticking up more for your coach. I might hate the guy, but I think that was the biggest snub of any award in the league.
Bear Crawl — Blog — The Calm Before the Storm said:
March 9th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
[...] play second-fiddle to Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, and Texas A&M’s athletes in this year’s Big XII awards. That’s why the Bears are tied for second in the Big XII with an RPI of 8 and yet continue to [...]
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