Luke Winn says Kemba Sportsman of the Year | The Boneyard

Luke Winn says Kemba Sportsman of the Year

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Waquoit

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He's right. SI likes to be contrarian, maybe Kemba has a chance.
 
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If he were to win, it would be justice at last. I love this quote from Winn, "It's not entirely clear why, but in retrospect, the college basketball community (myself included) kept trying to make this past season about someone other than Kemba." Kemba should have the last shot, to win what is arguably the greatest sports honor of the year.
 
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Does anyone know the last college athlete to win it? It could have been recent, but the only ones coming to my mind are pros. I feel like with the college basketball season ending in April and the award issue being published in December, it can hurt a college basketball player's chances because they are less current than say a football player heading into the playoffs.
 

UConnSwag11

Storrs, CT The Mecca
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So many good quotes.
It's very possible that all the focus on Kemba's offensive heroics obscured his total value, and that it was much greater than Fredette's one-sided contribution.

What Kemba did, after that, is now legend.

It was a magical season, but when you say 965 points, you aren't even getting close to what he meant to us."
 
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Kemba very well might be the most deserving of this award. That being said, I don't see any way Aaron Rodgers doesn't get it.
 
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I kept arguing with people building up to the draft who seemed to think Kemba didn't play any defense. Long before he broke McGhee's ankles, Kemba switched on to Ashton Gibbs when he was lighting up the freshmen and shut him down to help turn the momentum after we were down 12. He covered Preston Knowles down the stretch in the championship game, on the fifth game in five nights, and forced him into a couple wild shots (the key one with 50 seconds left didn't even draw iron, setting up the winning Lamb lay-up). He took Brandon Knight on the last possession against Kentucky, and denied him the lane, which resulted in a forced three-pointer from Liggins (and then Kemba went in there to deflect the offensive rebound away from the Wildcats and into the hands of Napier). He busted his arse on defense against Butler, hustling back a few times to break up fast breaks, which was key to prevent Butler from snapping out of their shooting funk. Once in a while, he would get beat since he couldn't take a chance on a hand-check foul or bumping a cutter if he was trailing the play, but I always trusted him to defend people and to work hard fighting over screens.
 
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Had to dig up this thread....and sportsman of the year goes to coach K. I know he got the win total and everything but to me that isn't what the essence of the award is all about. Breaking that win record this year was inevitable and a culmination of years of coaching. He didn't accomplish anything this particular year that made him worthy of sportsman of the year. Like say, pretty much single handedly leading your team to a NC.
 
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Had to dig up this thread....and sportsman of the year goes to coach K. I know he got the win total and everything but to me that isn't what the essence of the award is all about. Breaking that win record this year was inevitable and a culmination of years of coaching. He didn't accomplish anything this particular year that made him worthy of sportsman of the year. Like say, pretty much single handedly leading your team to a NC.

It's particularly egregious because he breaks the record during the 2011-2012 basketball season. While nominally in 2011, he does it in a season that's going to be remembered far more for events in 2012 than 2011. When you think of the year 2011 in college basketball you're going to think of Kemba Walker leading UConn to the 2011 national championship, not coach K beating Michigan State in a meaningless early-season game.
 
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As if K by himself wasn't bad enough, he shares it with the wicked witch of the orange. I don't always agree with their choices for Sportsman of the Year, but this is the first time the cover makes me want to puke (no pun intended).
 

ctchamps

We are UConn!! 4>1 But 5>>>>1 is even better!
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The article says a lot about UConn's perimeter defense this season - NO KEMBA WALKER!:mad:
 
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