Rodney Dangerfield or Mike Conley?
The All-BigTen teams have been announced and the Buckeyes received plenty of accolades. Head coach Thad Matta won his 2nd straight Coach of the Year honor (1st via coaches) while Greg Oden was named the Freshman of the Year and became the first freshman to win conference Defensive Player of the Year. Mike Conley joined Oden on the All-Freshman squad. Fellow frosh Daequan Cook was named Sixth Man of the Year even though he fizzled down the stretch like a sparkler in a monsoon.
Looking at the Coaches voting, Oden was named First Team All Conference along with Adam Haluska, Drew Neitzel, Carl Landry and Big11Ten Player of the Year Alando Tucker. Apparently, a few coaches must have been on the hippie lettuce, at least that's the only reason I can think of to leave Mike Conley off the first team (he made 2nd team). I guess the only explanation is coaches love those upper-classmen considering Conley is already a better, more valuable player than Haluska or Landry. Seriously, if both of those guys are so good, why are their respective teams so mediocre? Conversely, anyone in the know is well aware that Conley is the undisputed MVP on a team that won the conference outright and is ranked #1 in the country. Thankfully, the Media voters were sober when casting their ballots choosing Conley as a 1st teamer ahead of Landry. Another Conley diss is the fact he was left off the All-Defensive team in favor of Sparty's Travis Walton. I guess leading the conference in steals (2.3) doesn't account for much (Walton was 14th at 1.1). Lastly, Jamar Butler and Ron Lewis were honorable mentions.
Less ballyhoo'd winners include: Matt Turdwiggler - MV9 (Most Valuable 9th man) Ron Lewis - Longest average distance of 3 PT attempts The Schott - Calgon Award for least passionate fans
Comments
My mom will get you O'Banion!
I wish they hired somebody with more (any) conerback coaching experience. Maybe it's not that hard? Also, wasn't Pagac Jr. one of the OSU graduates that claimed he received improper benefits while attending OSU? I think this happened right around the time that Clarrett was running his mouth. I remember Pagac Jr. and Drew Carter both saying they were paid for no-show jobs. I only remember Pagac because I remember thinking it was sour grapes after his dad was fired.
OSU has two options. They either win it all as Oden carries them, exploding with 30+ ppg performances and even further improved defense in the middle....or, they will get bounced out around the sweet 16. It is entirely on him.. The other players will fall into place and do their thing just fine.
I don't think you need to score 30, but I'll take it. You need to stay out of foul trouble and be dominant on defense. You and Conley are enought to make the final 4 as long as everyone else plays decent and don't feel the need to crank up 25 footers with 30 seconds on the shot clock.