POY is Sully’s to Lose.
Really? NOT!
Sully is a good player and all, but
POY he is NOT!
CBS Sports and their pundits have all but awarded the Player of the Year trophy to Ohio State’s Sullinger. The media is singing his praises all the livelong day-to the tune of “Oh Suzanna”, no less. The kid is a very good player, albeit a bit limited in his game, and he’s no Lew Alcindor – closer akin to Greg Odin…
Fortunately, the season is in it’s early stages, with plenty of basketball left to be played. Generally, awards such as this go to a kid on a great team, with a sterling record, and one which makes a good run in the Dance, in March. Well, if those are the criteria, count Sullinger and OSU out. It appears they will have their hands full with MSU, Purdue, Wisconsin, and even Illinois and Indiana, all of a sudden. OSU will not win the Big 10/12 this season, and could sustain up to 6-7 losses. They will probably take a 2nd Round bow out in the Dance as well. Nope…not gonna be enough for Sully to win POY.
My Darkhorse…my pick…my longshot ( who comes through at great odds ) is Creighton’s Doug McDermott. Yep, lil’ ol’ Dougie Fresh will win the POY.
Firstly…the boy has game. As has been noted (click title link) he has a complete game – he plays inside, outside, can drive, has a good pullup J, AND rebounds. I fully expect McDermott to continue his assault on the CU, MVC, and NCAA record book. In doing so he will pull away from the competition in the quest for the POY award.
Secondly…Creighton is off to a great start, in a much stronger MVC this season. I fully expect the Jays to win in the mid to high 20’s during the regular season, possibly winning the MVC post-season tourney this season. Dependent on seeding (5-7 seed) Creighton’s draw in the NCAA Tourney should produce a Sweet Sixteen berth for the Bluejays. A SS or better berth for the non-BCS power should be enough to secure the POY crown for the Jays star forward.
Lastly…Talent will out! He was overlooked and under assessed in high school. He had a stellar frosh campaign, comparable to the great Kevin Durant’s and Carmelo Anthony’s frosh campaigns, but because he plays at a non-BCS school his accomplishments were ignored. Well the media can’t ignore him this season. He’s not gonna fade into the background. His assault on the record books is gonna continue all season long! Doug’s talent will not permit the experts, media pundits, and BCS cronies to overlook him any longer. Doug McDermott will be this season’s National Player of the Year!
You heard it here…on Bluenote’s, FIRST!!!
– gtmoBlue
Category: college basketball 365
Jays Upset at St Joe’s 80-71, Fall to #24 in Polls
The tilt at St Joseph’s University had all the trimmings.
a) HOF ceremonies for former St Joe’s & Current Creighton President, Fr Lannon.
b) True road game, in Philly.
c) Game site was on campus at the Hagan Arena versus the standard fare of the Palestra.
d) St Joe’s playing well defensively. Team setting a few new standards as a team.
e) Jays had a full week off between games (finals week).
f) Officiating crew with a checkered officiating history.
All of the above makes for an interesting mix of ingredients thrown into the pot and come up with a potential upset of the week. That is exactly what occurred. This game has been examined and scrutinized on both the BJC and WBR. See links below.
Suffice it to say that it is the Bluejays 1st loss of the season, and they were going to suffer a loss at some juncture. Many thought that would signal our exit from the polls. Not so.
My take is the coaching staff will crack the whip in this week’s practices to correct the defensive deficiencies noted, continued stress on FT shooting, and on playing hard for the full 40 minutes. Everyone on the team knows that they will be getting every opponent’s Best Shot, in each upcoming game – no surprises there – as the Jays will be deemed an important test for all upcoming teams.
Take care of business in practices, come ready to play every game, and playing both Hard and Smart are the axioms of the day. Go Big Blue. Go Bluejays!
From the perspective here at Bluenotes this is not a crisis, nor cause for panic. It is a blip on the screen during the normal course of events in the non-conference portion of the season. No one expected the Jays to run the table during the non-conference, let alone the entire season.
This game appears to have been a combo of less than stellar defensive play, coupled with outrageous officiating (Free Throws- SJU 29, Jays 9 / Fouls- SJU 13, Jays 26). Jays will use this game as a learning tool – and move ahead.
Go Creighton!
Bluenotes 