RCB – Big 12 Postseason Awards

As you already know, the Big 12 coaches and media announced the winners of the postseason awards in the last 24 hours. I felt compelled to hand out a few awards myself.

Coach of the Year: Lon Kruger

This really seems like a no-brainer to me. My vote would be as follows: 1) Kruger 2) Self 3) Barnes. Honestly, if Scott Drew didn’t let his team fall so far behind in the conference, his second half of the Big 12 is really impressive and he might have won COY.

But Kruger is clearly the COY and here’s why: Oklahoma was picked to finish fifth (tied with Kansas State) in the preseason Big 12 poll and they ended up in second place by themselves. Yes, Texas was picked eighth and finished tied for third. However, Oklahoma swept the season series against the Longhorns. Clearly, Kruger outcoached Barnes this year and that made all the difference in the standings.

Kruger did this without a single All-Big 12 first team player. Iowa State, which was picked fourth and finished tied for third (seeded fourth), had two first team All-Big 12 players. Even though Oklahoma didn’t beat Kansas, they gave the Jayhawks two hard-fought games. While Texas did defeat Kansas in Austin, KU slaughtered the Longhorns in the return game at the Fieldhouse.

Newcomer of the Year: DeAndre Kane

DeAndre Kane, in my opinion, is the best player on Iowa State. Melvin Ejim may have won Player of the Year from the coaches and media, but Kane made Iowa State go this year. Kane scored in double digits in all but four Iowa State games this year. In the four games he scored single digits, he had 35 assists. Two of those came in the Big 12 and he had nine assists in a win over Oklahoma and 10 assists in a blowout vs. TCU.

In games against Kansas, he combined for 43 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals (he out-performed Mr. Ejim in these two games, by the way).

There’s really no doubt here as Kane is clearly the best transfer in the Big 12.

Freshman of the Year: Andrew Wiggins

Another no-brainer in my eyes.

The best player on the best team in the conference.  The only other contenders for this award are Joel Embiid and Marcus Foster.

He’s also the Rock Chalk Blog…

Player of the Year: Andrew Wiggins 

People expected Andrew Wiggins to be LeBron James but he simply couldn’t live up to the hype. But how could he ever do that?

Wiggins wasn’t perfect and he proved that many times. But when he was zoned in and his shot was falling, no one was better than Wiggins. In KU’s biggest games, Wiggins stepped up to the plate and delivered. There was only really one game Wiggins didn’t deliver and that was at Austin, Texas. He was aggressive but missed his first 10 shots. In the previous two games before that? He set back-to-back career highs that he didn’t break until the last game of the season when he dropped 41 points.

He also was KU’s best defensive player… which means

Defensive Player of the Year: Andrew Wiggins

Many times, Wiggins guarded the best offensive player on the opposing team. He only had 29 blocks and 36 steals on the year but the latter is more of an issue with KU’s overall defense. There were numerous times where Wiggins made stops late in the game that either got Kansas back in the game or sealed the victory. He takes pride in shutting down his opponent.

While Embiid was the coaches’ choice for the award, they’re dead wrong. Even more baffling was Wiggins’ snub on the All-Big 12 defensive team. Sorry Big 12 coaches, but you’re wrong. It’s pretty obvious why Bill Self keeps winning the league if you can’t recognize Wiggins’ elite defense.

All-Big 12 First Team:

• Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
• Joel Embiid, Kansas
• Juwan Staten, West Virginia
• DeAndre Kane, Iowa State
• Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State

Perhaps my biggest omission here is Melvin Ejim. I’ll argue against Ejim here because 1) the fourth seeded team shouldn’t have two All-Big 12 first teamers 2) Kane is the best ISU player 3) Embiid, when healthy, is arguably the best player in the Big 12 4) Staten’s year was incredibly and overlooked and 5) Marcus Smart still put up a great performance this year despite what I’ve said. If Embiid is on here, Smart should be, too.

All-Big 12 Second Team:

• Melvin Ejim, Iowa State
• Markel Brown, Oklahoma State
• Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
• Marcus Foster, Kansas State
• Jonathan Holmes, Texas

I tried to reward the teams that finished in the top half of the Big 12 here. I think these are the players that are the first or second best players on those teams.

All-Big 12 Third Team:

• Perry Ellis, Kansas
• Georges Niang, Iowa State
• Eron Harris, West Virginia
• Cory Jefferson, Baylor
• Cameron Clark, Oklahoma

Ellis and Niang are borderline second-teamers here. Harris and Clark had incredible years while Jefferson was the best Baylor player.

Honorable mentions: Wayne Selden, Kansas; Ryan Anderson, TCU; Jaye Crockett, Texas Tech; Le’Bryan Nash, Oklahoma State; Javan Felix, Texas.

All-Big 12 Newcomer Team:

• Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
• Joel Embiid, Kansas
• DeAndre Kane, Iowa State
• Marcus Foster, Kansas State
• Isaiah Tayor, Texas

These are pretty easy choices. This is about the only thing I agree with the Big 12 coaches on.

All-Big 12 Defensive Team:

• Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
• Joel Embiid, Kansas
• Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State
• Isaiah Austin, Baylor
• Buddy Hield, Oklahoma

This team would be incredible defensively and even offensively. I almost like this team better than the All-Big 12 first team.