Friday, February 27, 2009
Could you possibly not vote for Hansbrough?
Six Top 25 juniors headed to Tech junior day
Doug Doughty
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Scarcely when I take a look at my e-mail in-box there isn’t a new message concerning the upcoming All-ACC men’s basketball balloting.
The ballots aren’t due for another week, but why wait till the last minute?
I’m going to start with the conference stats and the four players who were averaging 20 points or more prior to Thursday night – North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (21.0), Florida State’s Toney Douglas (20.5), Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague (20.3) and Miami’s Jack McClinton (20.1).
McClinton probably dropped under 20 points per game with an 11-point outing Thursday at Virginia, but that wasn’t enough to drop him below fifth-place Malcolm Delaney from Virginia Tech. Delaney is averaging 18.8, followed by teammate A.D. Vassallo at 18.4.
If you went by straight scoring, Delaney right now would be the fifth player on the first team, but I’d be more inclined to go with North Carolina junior Ty Lawson, who has an ACC-leading 171 assists. Even more impressive, Lawson has a 3.3-to-1 assist-turnover ratio in a conference where nobody else is better than 1.7-to-1 (Maryland’s Eric Hayes).
It should be noted, however, that the above-noted statistics count all games. When you look at the statistics for conference games only, it’s a different story.
McClinton is – or was – the leading scorer in ACC games with a 23.1-point average. He was followed by Douglas (22.8), Delaney (21.5), Teague (21.0) and Duke’s Gerald Henderson (20.1).
Henderson is the ACC’s 10th-leading scorer counting all games, but every time I turn on the TV lately, he seems to be lighting it up. Given the fact that Duke is second in the ACC standings behind North Carolina, I think it’s reasonable to put a Dukie on the first team.
So, who do you leave off?
I was surprised to see that Hansbrough was leading the ACC in scoring. It seems to me that Hansbrough has been having a down year, which, for him, would mean that he’s not having a national-player-of-the-year type season.
In conference games only, the statistics for ACC games reflect that. Hansbrough is sixth in scoring, third in rebounding and ninth in field-goal percentage.
I think you could make the case right now that Hansbrough is not the ACC player of the year.
So, who would it be?
I think you’ve got to wait for the regular-season to play out. It used to be that you could hand in your player-of-the-year ballot at the tournament. Not anymore.
If Duke were to win or share the regular-season championship, I might go with Henderson. If Carolina holds serve, I’d pick Lawson ahead of Hansbrough right now.
That’s subscribing to the theory that “to the victor belong the spoils.” My history is that I’m inclined to go with a player who has been responsible in taking his team to a level that it otherwise would not have attained.
With that as a criterion, I think you’d have to take a serious look at Florida State’s Douglas, who, along with his scoring, has turned into one of the best defenders that Leonard Hamilton says he has coached.
But, as far as contributing to a team’s success, it’s hard to say that Douglas has been any more vital than Boston College’s Tyrese Rice. The Eagles (20-9 overall, 8-6 ACC) were a preseason pick for 11th in the conference.
Rice is averaging 17.5 points (eighth) in all games and 18.6 (also eighth) in ACC games only.
IN CASE YOU’RE interested, the 2007-2008 All-ACC first team included Hansbrough, McClinton and Rice to go with seniors Sean Singletary from Virginia and DeMarcus Nelson from Duke.
Who out there remembers DeMarcus Nelson?
There were four underclassmen on the second team: Maryland’s Greivis Vazquez, North Carolina’s Wayne Ellington, Clemson’s K.C. Rivers and Tech’s Vassallo.
Underclassmen on the third team (in order of votes received) were Douglas, Duke’s Kyle Singler, Wake Forest’s James Johnson and Duke’s Greg Paulus.
Paulus? Last time I looked, he wasn’t even starting for Duke anymore.
I had Paulus on my ACC Rotisserie team and this week traded him in for North Carolina State’s Javi Gonzalez. ‘Nuff said.
SO, HOW WOULD my All-ACC ballot look right now?
First team: Douglas, Lawson, Henderson, Teague, McClinton.
Second team: Hansbrough, Rice, Delaney, Vazquez, Clemson’s Trevor Booker
Third team: Vassallo, Ellington, Singler, Johnson and Virginia freshman Sylven Landesberg.
If that’s the 15, who gets left off? Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal, the ACC’s leading rebounder, for one. Rivers, for another. North Carolina’s Danny Green. Duke’s Jon Scheyer.
I can’t imagine Bill Brill not voting for Scheyer.
Would it be a “house job” to vote for Landesberg, a player I’ve seen play more than 20 times? Not when you consider that he’s in the top 12 in the ACC in scoring, rebounding and assists (in ACC games only).
There are nine days left in the regular season as of today, Friday, and a lot could change. Could I deal with the stigma of being the only voter to keep Hansbrough from being unanimous? I believe the votes can be made public.
“I think it’s pretty ridiculous that you wouldn’t put Hansborough on the first team,” said Halifax County sports editor Tucker McLaughlin, who sees more ACC games than almost anybody.
McLaughlin would be free to cancel my vote with his vote, but he doesn’t belong to the ACC media association. He doesn’t have a vote.
Here’s hoping that Hansbrough, or anybody else for that matter, makes the decision easier for me.
THE WORD ON Virginia Tech’s first football “prospect day” (not “junior day,” we are cautioned) is that the Hokies will have 13 juniors and four sophomores on campus today.
Visitors will include six of the state’s top 16 juniors as rated by The Roanoke Times. They include No. 6 Nick Acree, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound defensive lineman from King William who reportedly will transfer to Christchurch for his senior year. Acree already has committed to the Hokies.
Also headed for Blacksburg on Saturday are No. 3 Mark Shuman, an offensive lineman from Fork Union; No. 7 Evan Hailes, a defensive lineman from Oscar Smith in Chesapeake; No. 15 Brian Laiti, a linebacker from Robinson in Fairfax; No. 16 Connor Davis, an offensive lineman from Deep Run outside Richmond; and No. 23 Caleb Farris, an offensive lineman from Rockbridge County.
Virginia will have its second junior day in as many weeks Saturday but Tech won’t have another junior day until it holds a one-day camp after school gets out.
