Yahoo! Sports national player of the year. Yahoo! Sports national freshman of the year. Yahoo! Sports SEC freshman and player of the year. The love affair the media has with John Wall seems to be growing and getting deeper. The SEC is getting set to announce their players of the year today and John Wall seems to be a lock for all the major awards. As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend!" He is getting competition from the one and only DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins for the SEC player of the year and the SEC freshman of the year. This is a conundrum that Kentucky fans do not mind being in.
It seems that the SEC coaches are split when it comes down to choosing who is better and who means more to the team. The Courier Journal actually wrote a nice piece for once with some nice quotes from John Pelphry and Bruce Pearl about who they think is the most deserving of the honors. Pelphry is a part of Team Boogie, calling the big man "the next closest thing" to the big Shaqtus while he was at LSU. I would have to agree with him on that remark. He has been dominant all year and nobody has been able to guard him one on one, two on one, three on one...you get the picture.
So who's it gonna be? Both of them are well deserving of the honors and I would be happy with either. As everybody knows I am partial to Cousins mainly because of his dominant play (18 double-doubles, he averages a double-double) but also because of his personality. Aside from the Louisville "incident" (don't even get me started) he has been well behaved on the court all season. He is great with the media and is beloved by his teammates as the class clown character. He has bestowed unforgettable nicknames upon his teammates like "Prairie Dog" (Perry Stevenson), "Big Britain" (Josh Harrelson), "Black Kool-Aid" (Patrick Patterson), and "Twinky" (Jon Hood). He goes to all the women's basketball games when there isn't a conflict with the men's schedule because he loves watching their fast paced game. He also claimed that they are the only team with a chance to beat UConn (that's awful nice Boogie, but really?). Senior Mark Krebs was asked by a reporter that if he could give a Cousins a nickname, what would it be? Krebs declined to comment because he said, with a smile on his face, that he couldn't think of a name that wouldn't make the big man beat him up.
So, it sounds like I am making a case for Cousins. But when it comes down to it, I have to say it should go to Wall. there is no other player on the team that is more electrifying and more clutch than the Great Wall. Anytime he plays he is instantly the best player on the floor (and yes I know about Scottie Reynolds and Evan Turner). Who is the guy that you want taking free throws at the end of the game? Wall. Who's hands do you want the ball to be in with the Cats down by one with 9.7 seconds left in the game? Wall. Who can drive on anybody in the country? Wall. Who has come up big in crucial times all year long to put a dagger in a team? Wall.
To me, the ideal situation would be to give Cousins freshman of the year and Wall player of the year. That way both are recognized. Either way, as long as the winner wears that blue and white jersey with Kentucky across the front, I am fine with the decision.
Called it.
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