No Doyel, No!
By Zach
Oh man, you knew it had to happen: a knee-jerk reaction to the college basketball season from a writer who should have known better. Gregg Doyel wrote the other day that the National College Player of the Year, instead of being JJ Redick or Adam Morrison, should have been Joakim Noah...wow, talk about an overreaction to six games. Noah averaged 14.2 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game this season. Morrison scored more than twice that per game.
What am I missing here? We already have an award for the guy who has a great postseason: there's the regional Most Outstanding Player and the Final Four MOP. But to say that because Noah played well in the tournament, he should win the National Player of the Year is tantamount to saying that Paul Konerko should have been AL MVP last year because he played well in the World Series.
Doyel also compares Noah to Kevin Garnett...uh, what? Something tells me that if Garnett had gone to college, he'd have been a bit better than Joakim by his sophomore year...in part because in his second year in the NBA, he averaged 17 and 8 a game.
Look, Noah had a good postseason. He plays hard, blocks shots, and runs the floor well. But he has no post game, and will struggle in the NBA until he puts more weight on. Best case scenario? He's Marcus Camby (except healthier). Which is good. Camby is a damn good player. But Joakim Noah was not the best player in college basketball this year, and he wasn't even one of the top 15 (as Doyel presumes). He deserved the honorable mention he got. Next year, he'll be a preseason first team All-American, and that's fine. But don't let six games obscure what guys like Morrison, Redick, Brandon Roy, Sheldon Williams, and Randy Foye did.
What am I missing here? We already have an award for the guy who has a great postseason: there's the regional Most Outstanding Player and the Final Four MOP. But to say that because Noah played well in the tournament, he should win the National Player of the Year is tantamount to saying that Paul Konerko should have been AL MVP last year because he played well in the World Series.
Doyel also compares Noah to Kevin Garnett...uh, what? Something tells me that if Garnett had gone to college, he'd have been a bit better than Joakim by his sophomore year...in part because in his second year in the NBA, he averaged 17 and 8 a game.
Look, Noah had a good postseason. He plays hard, blocks shots, and runs the floor well. But he has no post game, and will struggle in the NBA until he puts more weight on. Best case scenario? He's Marcus Camby (except healthier). Which is good. Camby is a damn good player. But Joakim Noah was not the best player in college basketball this year, and he wasn't even one of the top 15 (as Doyel presumes). He deserved the honorable mention he got. Next year, he'll be a preseason first team All-American, and that's fine. But don't let six games obscure what guys like Morrison, Redick, Brandon Roy, Sheldon Williams, and Randy Foye did.
posted by Zach at 4:44 PM
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