Big East Awards Speculation

[auror]

I'd pick Anderson for Coach of the Year. While Hurley did a good job, UConn was picked to be a contender. St John's was picked to finish 9th.

I get the sentiment, but they only went 10-9. 9th place had 8 wins. They were lucky to finish 4th. A lot of the goodwill is an artifact of the standings and the jumble of 4th - 9th more than anything (And really, the disappointing play of Xavier and Seton Hall down the stretch.) If all other results had held they would've finished 9th if they had lost their last 2. So credit to him and the team winning 2 home games, but it just feels small potatoes. The difference between 8-11 and 9th to 10-9 and 4th, how much do we really care?

UConn entered a new conference and missed their best player for almost half the games and went 11-6.

 

[Friarsnoop]

I think finishing closer to the top matters.

It's 3rd vs. 4th. If someone in November said UConn would finish 3rd, I wouldn't have been surprised. If they said St. John's would finish 4th with a winning record, I would have been shocked.

 

[auror]

It's 3rd vs. 4th. If someone in November said UConn would finish 3rd, I wouldn't have been surprised. If they said St. John's would finish 4th with a winning record, I would have been shocked.

Context matters. They finished higher than projection despite losing the best player in the conference for almost half their games. You wouldn't have been surprised by that?

 

[JakeTheDog]

COY - Hurley
POY - Bouknight
OPOY - Bouknight
DPOY - Whaley
FPOY - Sanogo
Mascot of the Year - Johnathon.

Cutout of the year- Senhor

 

[Dooooooomed]

 

[Dooooooomed]

1st Team:
Gillespie
Zegarowski
JRE
Mamu
Bouk
Champagnie

 

[JakeTheDog]

Congrats, James! You deserve it. Now let’s go win the BET!

 

[Marat]

Is it pretty safe to assume McDermott will not get voted in as coach of year ?

 

[AuRevoirAAC]

Awful take. We should be happy when our guys get recognized. They're not mutually exclusive

It’s not an awful take, the awards are meaningless and subjective.

Kemba Walker didn’t get one in 2011, and I can guarantee you nobody outside of our fan base remembers Ben Hansborough receiving it.

Shabazz won in 2014 and admitted that he doesn’t care about it. In fact, Sean Kilpatrick and Mick Cronin were crying about it and Shabazz was quoted saying:
"He cares so much about that MVP, I don't care about that. Those guys believe he won it? He can have it."

If these guys don’t care about it, then why should we?

 

[auror]

It’s not an awful take, the awards are meaningless and subjective.

Kemba Walker didn’t get one in 2011, and Shabazz admitted in 2014 that he doesn’t care about it. In fact, Sean Kilpatrick and Mick Cronin were crying about it and Shabazz even said:
"He cares so much about that MVP, I don't care about that. Those guys believe he won it? He can have it."

If these guys don’t care about it and are in the mindset of winning titles, then why should we care?

Because this is a recruiting-driven sport and the prestige and perception of the program are important factors in recruiting.

 

[AuRevoirAAC]

Because this is a recruiting-driven sport and the prestige and perception of the program are important factors in recruiting.

Auror, I agree with a lot of your takes on here, but respectfully disagree with this one.

Notre Dame’s recruiting class in 2012 likely didn’t change because of Ben Hansborough’s 2011 BE POY honor. On the other hand, UConn won the National title and loaded up again for 4 more years.

 

[auror]

Auror, I agree with a lot of your takes on here, but respectfully disagree with this one.

Notre Dame’s recruiting class in 2012 likely didn’t change because of Ben Hansborough’s 2011 BE POY honor. On the other hand, UConn won the National title and loaded up again for 4 more years.

As the other poster mentioned, it's not mutually exclusive. It all adds up and each source of prestige adds varying amounts. Championships obviously add a LOT more. But every little bit helps.

 

[navery12]

It’s not an awful take, the awards are meaningless and subjective.

Kemba Walker didn’t get one in 2011, and I can guarantee you nobody outside of our fan base remembers Ben Hansborough receiving it.

Shabazz won in 2014 and admitted that he doesn’t care about it. In fact, Sean Kilpatrick and Mick Cronin were crying about it and Shabazz was quoted saying:
"He cares so much about that MVP, I don't care about that. Those guys believe he won it? He can have it."

If these guys don’t care about it, then why should we?

Because when those guys say they don't care about it, it's not the truth. If Sean Kilpatrick won it in 2014 we'd have heard soundbites about Shabazz taking it personally and out to prove something in the AAC tournament

 

[tzznandrew]

As the other poster mentioned, it's not mutually exclusive. It all adds up and each source of prestige adds varying amounts. Championships obviously add a LOT more. But every little bit helps.

We also had a player on that particular team who kids loved, provided signature moments, and claimed a bunch of individual accolades as well.

This isn't hard. Good players being honored and the team being regularly ranked, and winning in the post-season are three sides of a multi-sided recruiting coin. They, along with other things, help tell a narrative a good can pitch.

 

[Friarsnoop]

Context matters. They finished higher than projection despite losing the best player in the conference for almost half their games. You wouldn't have been surprised by that?

They were 4-4 without him, beating Butler twice, DePaul, and Xavier.

Again, I think Hurley is a good coach and did a good job this year, but St. John's outperformed expectations more than anyone. They also had injuries to Alexander and Dunn.

 

[Waquoit]

Again, I think Hurley is a good coach and did a good job this year, but St. John's outperformed expectations more than anyone.

OK to good is good coaching. Good to the next level is better coaching.

 

[superjohn]

We also had had a player on that particular team who kids loved, provided signature moments, and claimed a bunch of individual accolades as well.

This isn't hard. Good players being honored and the team being regularly ranked, and winning in the post-season are three sides of a multi-sided recruiting coin. They, along with other things, help tell a narrative a good can pitch.

A lot of this board wants us to be the little engine that could instead of UConn, I sincerely don't get it.

 

[Friarsnoop]

OK to good is good coaching. Good to the next level is better coaching.

Not to belabor the point, but are you really surprised at UConn's season?

 

[tzznandrew]

A lot of this board wants us to be the little engine that could instead of UConn, I sincerely don't get it.

They have romanticized some of the teams that we had that were overlooked to start—or to end the season—going back to 1990. There were a decent amount (90, 94, 95, 02, 08, 11, 14), but they would have absolutely savaged—and did—some of those teams on this board.

But they've got it all backwards. Best just to win and keep winning and letting our team get accolades as a team and as individual players. There's literally no downside to it, only upside.

 

[auror]

They were 4-4 without him, beating Butler twice, DePaul, and Xavier.

Again, I think Hurley is a good coach and did a good job this year, but St. John's outperformed expectations more than anyone. They also had injuries to Alexander and Dunn.

I think Mike Anderson might tell you that beating Depaul and Butler is a little harder than you are making it out to be.

 

[superjohn]

Not to belabor the point, but are you really surprised at UConn's season?

I'm a bit surprised but more impressed that he kept everything going through adversity and they transitioned as quickly as they did once things were normalized. Any predictions for UConn were based on a fully healthy team. They lost hands down the best player in the conference for the heart of their schedule, didn't have Jackson for preseason and a lot of the season, never had Akok, shut down like three times for Covid. You take Gillespie or Champagnie off of their teams in the middle of the season along with a stud freshman and my guess is those teams would be in major trouble, St. John's would probably be terrible.

 

[Jbirdp5]

I have much less of a problem with hurley not winning coach of the year than I would have with bouk being left off of the first team. That would have been criminal.
I don’t mind the argument that St. John’s outperformed expectations more than UConn. And it’s not like hurley needs a vote of confidence.

 

[Waquoit]

Not to belabor the point, but are you really surprised at UConn's season?

That on March 7th they would have the best team in the Big East. And that they would have a legitimate chance to make it to the final four? I’m always thinking best case scenario and I’m not sure if I came up with this reality back then.

 

[Friarsnoop]

That on March 7th they would have the best team in the Big East. And that they would have a legitimate chance to make it to the final four? I’m always thinking best case scenario and I’m not sure if I came up with this reality back then.

I got crap because I had Nova, Creighton, UConn Seton Hall, and Providence 1-5. I had St. John's 8th.

 

[Waquoit]

I got crap because I had Nova, Creighton, UConn Seton Hall, and Providence 1-5. I had St. John's 8th.

I get that, yes I probably had UConn ticketed for 3rd and they came in third. But my take is that we are really good. All my pre-season "what if's" are coming true. What if Bouk takes that the next step? What if Whaley's D transfers to the BE? What if Cole is ready for the big stage? What if the frosh are better than advertised? There's more...