Big Ten Basketball Awards

Coaches think Liddell plays for Wisconsin?

Fuck Gard

So, Gard's players lead a near-revolt and/or most leave.  He tapes together the scraps of holdovers and transfers and together with THE EASIEST SCHEDULE IN THE B1G wins a slice of it.

Hopefully, he'll parlay his COY into a long/fat contract.  

Wow, not a single MSU player on the list. 

Fuck Wisconsin and their coach.  And Davison twice for good measure.

Another interesting note is that Moussa was on the all-frosh team but Caleb wasn't.

Shows why we've struggled. Also, fuck Wisconsin

That’s the least amount of MSU players I have ever seen on end-of-year awards list. However, I think the one that did make a team (Gabe Brown) was definitely not one of the top 15 players in the conference. If anything, I think Hall probably deserved Honorable Mention. Just very strange seeing them not have a guy that stood out all year.

Here's hoping Brad Davison suffers a debilitating nutshot while walking up to the awards dais.

That’s a loaded first team.  Hunter, come back next year please!

Part of MSU not getting any on (at least the media) was tiny Tom's inability to ever stick with a lineup.  Brown and Christie were the only guys that play more than 60% of MSU minutes and Christie, despite his hot shooting against Michigan in the first game (cuz of course), struggled worse than Houstan this year with a 95 (!!!) Ortg and 28% from three in the conference.

Malik Hall and Marcus Bingham were their best players, statistically and otherwise, and yet they only played about 50% of team minutes.  So they didn't get the counting stats to make it on these lists even though Bingham has excellent rebound and block rates and shooting percentages.

Just a baffling job of coaching by Izzo.

Ok, I'm not about to defend Gard, because F him.  But, I'm somewhat impressed by what he was able to accomplish this year after what they lost last year.  I think they lost a lot more than what we did.  I get the fact that their schedule was cake, but their brand of basketball, while boring, is remarkably consistently successful.

The more I watch the B1G, as the years pass, the less impressed I am by these awards. I think that a lot of the votes just go to players whose names resonate a little. Wisconsin's Davison on the second team is silly. 

How  the heck does Davison get second team??

Davison must get credit for a "double double" every time he dishes two dong punches in a game.

List of B1G All-conference players that played more than 20 MPG and shot less than 40% from the floor, scored less than 11.5 PPG, grabbed less than 4.5 RPG, and dished out less than 2.5 APG:

1. Gabe Brown, MSU

--END LIST--

LOL. Gabe had less points, rebs, assists, FG%, 3FG% than Caleb Houstan, WHO DIDN'T MAKE THE ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM.

The only problem with Michigan State playing 22 players in their rotation is that none of them can average over 7 points per game.

Izzo has been a terrible coach for years. He constantly substitutes awfully and play his worst players too many minutes. Last year he was saved from missing the tournament when kithier and loyer got hurt (or sick). Before that his season was saved by ward getting injured forcing him to give tillman all the minutes and forcing him out of post driven offense into ball screens with cassius. The infamous Syracuse game. If not for fortuitous injuires his track record would be far far worse these past 5 years.

Gard winning COY after finishing the regular season one spot ahead of UM on the KenPom aggregate is hilarious.  They played exactly one top-25 team on the road all year.  I'd give the COY to Fran given what they lost last year and how well they closed.  Wisconsin is absolutely going to flame out early in the tournament as an oversees and it's going to be hilarious.

Coach of the Year: Greg Gard, Wisconsin

He did win the league but not sure I agree.  I know this sounds crazy but what about Fran?

I think most of us expected Iowa to be terrible this year and somehow he got them to 12-8 and in contention (22-9 overall).  I don't think he's a great coach per se but the showing this year was strong.

As far as fans go, I think Illinois and Wisconsin have replaced Ohio St and Michigan St on the team hatred scale the last few years. Yes, Tiny Tom gets on our last nerve and Ohio St is hated by its very name but as fans, we’ve really been after those other two the last few years. You go from “fake champs” to “insti-gate”. 

I, only half jokingly, think that the top 3 over-achieving teams in the B1G this year, are Nebraska, Penn St, and Minnesota.    Not saying they aren't bad, but they are all much better than they should/could have been

Brad Davison has a lower PER than Brandon Johns had last season. Brandon Johns PER this season is lower than his freshman season PER. His regression is one of the biggest basketball mysteries in my lifetime. If he had stayed the same as last season, we’re talking about a double bye in the BTT. Instead, we’re in the 8-9 game.

Max Christie making the all freshman team was weird because he wasn't good. He was worse than Houstan in pretty much every way. Now Houstan was bad relative to expectations, but if the expectations are just compared to other freshman, how he wasn't put over the PG from Wisconsin and Christie is wild. 

Also who the in their right mind would vote Brad Davidson on any of these teams? Tyler Wahl is clearly their second best player. 

Gabe Brown, wild.