Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
Can’t we just split the Player of the Year two ways?
As tournament time approaches, legit candidates for Player of the Year begin to emerge. As a UK fan, we all know and appreciate the fact that it is more fun to have a season where one of the players wearing Big Blue is in serious contention. While it is fun to get the publicity, and we certainly want our man John Wall to win, what is the correlation between Player of the Year and winning an NCAA Championship?
I ran back over the past 10 11 years with three of the big POY Awards. Check it:
| Year | Wooden | Naismith | AP | Champ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Blake Griffin, Oklahoma | Blake Griffin | Blake Griffin | North Carolina |
| 2008 | Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina | Tyler Hansbrough | Tyler Hansbrough | Kansas |
| 2007 | Kevin Durant, Texas | Kevin Durant | Kevin Durant | Florida |
| 2006 | J. J. Redick, Duke | J. J. Redick | J. J. Redick | Florida |
| 2005 | Andrew Bogut, Utah | Andrew Bogut | Andrew Bogut | North Carolina |
| 2004 | Jameer Nelson, Saint Joseph’s | Jameer Nelson | Jameer Nelson | Connecticut |
| 2003 | T. J. Ford, Texas | T. J. Ford | David West, Xavier | Syracuse |
| 2002 | Jay Williams, Duke | Jason Williams | Jason Williams | Maryland |
| 2001 | Shane Battier, Duke | Shane Battier | Shane Battier | Duke |
| 2000 | Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati | Kenyon Martin | Kenyon Martin | Michigan State |
| 1999 | Elton Brand, Duke | Elton Brand | Elton Brand | Connecticut |
First, the level of group-think here is a bit much. I would have added more columns, but all the POY awards are pretty much the same. With the exception of David West/TJ Ford in 2003, every POY award seems to go to one particular player.
Second, Duke was the last team to have a POY winner and win the National Championship, and they did that way back in 2001 when Coach K could still recruit.
So take heart, Kentucky fans. If Evan Turner winds up with the award, that almost assures Ohio State won’t win the championship and increases UK’s chances of coming home with the big prize. Of course, if John Wall ends up with the hardware, forget this post ever happened.
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March 10th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Of course I am biased like we all are but I would guess that Wall would have the best pro career over any of those guys except for Durant who is unstoppable these days.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Great stuff!
March 10th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Who is David West?
March 10th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
It’s crazy to think we’ve never had a national player of the year. It’d be nice to see Wall win it.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
jamal mashburn should have won player of the year in my opinion. he was a class act.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
David West played for Xavier and i think was an NBA allstar once so far
March 10th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
hornets
March 10th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
6) thanks have never heard the name David West before. Don’t know how, since I follow this stuff as closely as any other obessessed basketball fan. Must have had an off year distracted by something else.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Wall is special. Thus, it’s only logical that he will win POY and we will win the NCAA. If these were both to happen, it’s a definate possibiltiy that the studios of ESPN will implode, and that thing over bob Knights left eye will get loose and eat somebody. Just saying.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I don’t understand why the number one pick almost guaranteed doesn’t win poy, that almost never happens except when like Greg oden was taken over Durant for some reason.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I have said the same thing since the pre-season. I see destiny happening. Kentucky versus Kansas in the national championship. I think we have the two best teams overall in history and the two best fan bases. Have met several Kansas fans over the years and they are respectful and feel the same way. Hope it plays out to an epic battle in Indy.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
My vote is for Turner, let’s win the NCAA!
March 10th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
The POY race is already over, Turner will win because of the numbers he has. The problem with POY is that really talented teams don’t have one guy putting up huge numbers across the board.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
It is completely ridiculous to assume that Ohio State is “assured not to win” the national title based purely on previous winners - they won’t because they aren’t as good as teams like KU/UK, but it has nothing to do with an award and its absurd to believe so
March 10th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I’m bout to take over. WATCH ME on Espn
March 10th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
My tie matches my highlighter.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
wordpress hates my computer, or vice versa
March 10th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
National title > any individual or team award
March 10th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
So, what’s this all about? The Memphis board saying Eric Bledsoe is DEFINITELY gone after this season: http://memphisroar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6711
March 10th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
who knows, wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he did go though.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I hear David West’s former school is pronounced Za-vee-ay.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
19 Apparently Cal flew out to Findlay to catch Cory Joseph’s game yesterday. That would make sense only if Bledsoe was going to declare for the draft. If he has made the decision to go pro it’s probably because he doesn’t want to share the spotlight with or play second fiddle to Knight.
And Cal probably feels that he needs more than Knight in the backcourt. Reading some tea leaves here but it makes sense.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I hope we win at least one game.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Confusious Say: “He he listenes to rivals message board live life with feet on ledge of building.”
March 10th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
And oh by the way, not to take anything away from Bledsoes potiental, I would be shocked if he is projected high enough in the draft to go anywhere. People are reading too much into these kids, thinking he’s not happy, earlier it was that Wall was not happy or having fun. Hell, these are kids who are going to go thru emotional ups and downs. He knows that in time he will have a chance to be a star, but he’s got work to do. He’ll be back.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Cincy baby!
March 10th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Would rather see UL win the BE tourney than see UC win a game…#3 on my most hated list after Puke and the UT snitches.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
After looking at that list of winners, I think we can all agree that the POY will go to John Scheyer. If John Wall would have gone to Duke, there would be no argument about POY. Oh well, I’ll take the Ntl Championship.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
New bracketology has Louisville projected as a #2 seed in the outhouse bracket of the NIT.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Warm up the jet Louisville.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Haha…way to go, ‘Tards! Man, you should take a look at the game thread over on Inside The Ville. I’ve never seen such dissing of your own players! Sheesh, I mean, as UK fans I know we gripe and moan about what our players do in a game from time to time, but these people are calling their OWN PLAYERS b*tches, wussies, punks, etc. I couldn’t believe it.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Matt, who said that RickyP has lost a step? OH, never mind, they lost to Cincy!
March 10th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Ugh…be happy you don’t live near UC land….they will be hard to live with tomorrow, making claims since they beat UL, they can beat us.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
To be fair to UC, they could have very possibly won it the year Kenyon Martin won POY, they were legitimate contenders until KMart went down with the broken leg.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
One and Done! Just like we will be in the NCAA tourney!
March 10th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
can UofL move onto the bubble with that loss?
March 10th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
33) I lived in NKY for a long time. I used to hate UC as well, but since Huggy Bear left I’ve hated them a lot less. I still pull for Xavier, though.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
The Cards beat Cuse at home and their fans show up on KSR causing trouble and acting like they are gonna win the NC. After a loss to a terrible Cincy team, all I hear is - cricket…cricket
March 10th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Joe Lunardi has one big ass hairpiece it seems.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
37 - Yeah, I can live with Xavier fans, they’re a reasonable bunch. The police blotter parade which was UC for so long was too much.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:01 am
BREAKING NEWS: What the HELL!!!! Wireman tweeted that there is a Live Bomb outside of The Summit Center in Nashville! Is this true.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:02 am
Bridgestone Arena^
March 11th, 2010 at 12:02 am
I would rather have #8 hanging in the rafters than any individual award.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:13 am
Apparently someone put a Land Mine under the Ole Miss Bus. I am picking my jaw up off the floor. I’m speachless. How the hell does someone get a Land Mine?!?!
March 11th, 2010 at 12:14 am
so when did eleven become ten?
March 11th, 2010 at 5:46 am
45) Never. . NEVER. . underestimate my inability to do basic math.
Noted and corrected.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
27) couldnt agree more. i live in the nky too and most uc fans are all d-bags. it was so funny when they got rolled by their only SEC chool they played all year in football.