College awards: merit based?

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Yesterday, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 17 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which goes annually to the nation's top collegiate point guard. At least, that is how the award committee labels it. Here are the finalists:

Darren Collison, who led UCLA to the last three Final Fours, and Stephen Curry, who led Davidson to its NCAA tournament run last season, were among the 17 finalists ...

The other finalists from Division I were: Sheron Collins, Kansas; Toney Douglas, Florida State; Levance Fields, Pittsburgh; Jonny Flynn, Syracuse; Dominic James, Marquette; Ty Lawson, North Carolina; Eric Maynor, Virginia Commonwealth; Patrick Mills, Saint Mary's; Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga; A.J. Price, Connecticut; and Jeff Teague, Wake Forest.

Two players from Division II were selected -- Virgil Buensuceso, BYU Hawaii, and Darren Duncan, Merrimack, while David Arseneault of Grinnell and Sean Wallis of Washington University were chosen from Division III.

Here's the problem. While it is true that the point guard position in college hoops is dominated by black athletes, there are still numerous white players who excel. However, they have been completely ignored by the selection committee.

The three most glaring D-I non-selections this year are Florida's Nick Calathes, Southern Illinois' Bryan Mullins, and North Dakota State's Ben Woodside (who is virtually invisible in the national media despite ranking #11 in the nation in assists and #12 in scoring).

Let's take a look at the important point guard numbers (scoring average, assists-per-game, assist-to-turnover ratio, and steals) of the 13 Division One candidates for the honor and compare them to Calathes, Mullins, and Woodside's numbers.

The black finalists:
Darren Collison 14.1 points-per-game, 5.1 assists-per-game, 2.24 a/t, and 38 steals.
Stephen Curry 28.9 points-per-game, 6.3 assists-per-game, 1.77 a/t, and 65 steals.
Sheron Collins 18.2 points-per-game, 5.0 assists-per-game, 1.52 a/t, and 27 steals.
Toney Douglas 20.2 points-per-game, 2.5 assists-per-game, .93 a/t, and 49 steals.
Levance Fields 11.0 points-per-game, 7.0 assists-per-game, 3.69 a/t, and 21 steals.
Johnny Flynn 17.0 points-per-game, 5.8 assists-per-game, 1.86 a/t, and 33 steals.
Dominic James 11.7 points-per-game, 5.1 assists-per-game, 2.79 a/t, and 47 steals.
Ty Lawson 15.5 points-per-game, 6.5 assists-per-game, 3.55 a/t, and 50 steals.
Eric Maynor 23.1 points-per-game, 5.8 assists-per-game, 1.84 a/t, and 42 steals.
Patrick Mills 18.7 points-per-game, 3.9 assists-per-game, 1.28 a/t, and 47 steals.
Jeremy Pargo 9.9 points-per-game, 5.4 assists-per-game, 2.0 a/t, and 30 steals.
A.J. Price 12.2 points-per-game, 4.3 assists-per-game, 1.78 a/t, and 12 steals.
Jeff Teague 20.6 points-per-game, 3.6 assists-per-game, 1.07 a/t, and 42 steals.

The snubbed white players:
Nick Calathes 18.1 points-per-game, 6.4 assists-per-game, 1.95 a/t, and 44 steals.
Ben Woodside 22.9 points-per-game, 6.4 assists-per-game, 1.99 a/t, and 33 steals.
Bryan Mullins 9.3 points-per-game, 5.6 assists-per-game, 3.26 a/t, and 45 steals.

It is quite obvious that these three white point guards belong in the conversation, even if they don't ultimately win the award. But apparently on-court production is not involved in the selection process.

That should make you wonder what the requirements actually are, because it seems having pale skin is an automatic disqualifier.

 

[j41181]

That's quite a travesty!

Despite that obvious dilemma, I'm really impressed with Nick Calathes for a white guard: he's 6'6 and plays the point, I never saw a white point guard that tall before. If he grows a bit taller and adds more muscle, he will be a force to reckon with at the point guard position.

Ben Woodside, looks like another Mark Price to me.

Bryan Mullins reminds me more of Steve Blake.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

good comparisons, j41181.

Nick's older brother actually grew to 6-10, and still ran the point a lot at St. Joseph's. however, he wasn't as smooth or quick as his younger brother.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I agree with your analysis JC. Toney Douglas shouldn't be on the list with those assist numbers and assist to turnover ratio; no way! Jeremy Pargo and A.J Price should also have probably been left off for the guys you mentioned.

Jeff Teague is a good player, but he seems like more of a combo guard than a true point. He's good, but I'm not sure that he's lottery caliber like the NBA draft analysts are saying. He's certainly undersized also for a SG. I think Nick Calathes is certainly a better true point than Teague.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

I agree with your analysis JC.

how kind of you to agree that the facts are factual.

furthermore, Toney Douglas shouldn't be anywhere near the conversation about the nation's best point guards. he averages LESS than 1 assist per turnover, for crying out loud. that is ABYSMAL.

i personally think Teague is an excellent player. i prefer Calathes.

a guy who is an excellent true point guard but is struggling with his shot this year is Rochestie at Washington State. he's not putting up big numbers, but he's a good player. last year he out-played Darren Collison in the Pac-10, and despite his low numbers this year i'd still take him over Maynor, James, Flynn, and Pargo.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Great piece JC!

 

[celticdb15]

Calathes went off for 33 points last night! He did miss all three of his free throws at the end of the game, and Florida ended up losing by three. He now has 1,000 points in college!!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

another guy i should've included in the White Snubbed List is Vermont senior Mike Trimboli. here are the numbers for Trimboli who is trying to lead the under-manned Vermont team back to the Big Dance for the first time since 2005, when the Taylor Coppenrath-led Catamounts upset Syracuse in the first round. he is so far under the radar, the media hype regarding him is not even off the ground.

(as an aside, Taylor Coppenrath, arguably the best player in school history, didn't even get a smell of the NBA.)

Mike Trimboli 16.0 points-per-game, 4.8 assists-per-game, 1.78 a/t, and 52 steals.

 

[j41181]

It's such a big shame for Coppenrath, he displayed awesome numbers while playing for Vermont.

Mike Trimboli, I just checked him out, has been awesome for 4 years in a row. Steve Nash came from Santa Clara (small program), he could be another draft steal if he's lucky. But then again, he's another long shot.

Luke Babbitt is another talented freshman from Nevada. There are actually so many talented whites I've seen out there. It's just a question who among them will be the next CHOSEN ONE.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Mike Trimboli is very similar to the type of player John Stockton was during his collegiate career. unfortunately, it is very doubtful that NBA scouts will even give him a cursory evaluation.

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more validation for my initial post in this thread:

Nick Calathes of Florida is the ONLY player in the NCAA to average 15+ points-per-game, 6+ assists-per-game, and 5+ rebounds-per-game. the ONLY one!/i]

so please tell me, why wasn't he on the list Cousy Award Finalist list?

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Wow that last post has to be some of the strongest proof of a caste system ever. With those stats it is more than RIDICULOUS it's probably more ludicrous than the rapper LUDICROUS. Not only should he have been on the LARGE GROUP of finalists list; he may have deserved to win the award! However, I admit Florida isn't that good this year; Calathes needs more help.

 

[Average American]

The 2014 Naismith college player of the year was Doug McDermott (a White kid from Creighton)..

McDermott averaged almost 27 pts a game this season. He joins Naismith Trophy alumni (Bill Walton, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, & Pistol Pete)

Congrats.