The MAC announced the first two awards of award week today.
The Coach of the year was Geno Ford, which is how I would have voted. He has now won back-back regular season titles, and he did it this year with an almost entirely new team from last year. That, to me, is a pretty good coaching job. I can't argue with Coles, he's always strong and Hawkins would have bee a reasonable vote, too.
Geno Ford, Kent State (8 votes)
Charlie Coles, Miami (7 votes)
Steve Hawkins, Western Michigan (5 votes)
I do differ a little on the player of the year. I would contend to you that Justin Greene won this award before the season even began. Not that he isn't a good player, as are Mavunga and Cooper. But the MAC Player of the Year was Brandon Bowdry. Second in the MAC in scoring, leading in rebounds, he was simply the most outstanding player in the league this year. I know he played for a terrible team--so much the more difficult for him to do what he did. He should have won this award.
Justin Greene, Kent State (7 votes)
Julian Mavunga, Miami (4 votes)
D.J. Cooper, Ohio (4 votes)
Brandon Bowdry, Eastern Michigan (2 votes)
Rod Sherman, Kent State (1 vote)
Xavier Silas, Northern Illinois (1 vote)
Flenard Whitfield, Western Michigan (1 vote)
I just can't agree with your assessment that Bowdry should have been the MACPotY. Yes, he posted some gaudy numbers, but that's partly because he was not just EMU's first option, he was EMU's first, second, and third option. Through Sunday's game, Bowdry took about 35% of all shots for EMU (top ten nationally for percent of team's shots taken by one player), but his effective field goal percentage was 48%, just 27th in the MAC.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, he got those numbers through quantity, throwing up shot after shot, rather than being a great shooter.
Fair enough, but playing on such a bad team presents disadvantages too. He was probably forced to take a lot of shots that were difficult to make just because there was no other option and no one taking pressure off him.
ReplyDeleteWho was your choice?