Call it a sign of the Big Ten’s competitiveness or proof that coaches and reporters can’t agree on anything. For the second time in as many years, the conference has two Players of the Year in men’s basketball.
The coaches picked versatile Michigan State forward Morris Peterson. The media selected Indiana guard A.J. Guyton, the league’s leading scorer.
Voters snubbed 1999 honorees Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State and Scoonie Penn of Ohio State, who helped pilot their teams to a share of the conference title.
“Think about how well [Peterson and Guyton] must have played this year,” Northwestern coach Kevin O’Neill said. “Scoonie and Mateen were the best players in the league last year, and these two beat them out.”
Peterson, a senior from Flint, Mich., was instrumental in the Spartans’ run to a third straight conference title. He ranks fourth in Big Ten rebounding (7.4 per game) and fifth in scoring (17.2 points per game). Guyton, a senior from Peoria, led the conference with 21.6 points per game in Big Ten play. “Best one-on-one player in the league,” O’Neill said.
In other awards announced Monday, the media named Purdue’s Gene Keady Coach of the Year for leading the Boilermakers to third place after finishing seventh a year ago. It’s the record seventh time Keady has been honored in 20 years in the conference, breaking a tie with Indiana’s Bob Knight.
Meanwhile, the coaches named Ohio State center Ken Johnson Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-11-inch Johnson, a senior from Detroit, set conference records with 5.63 blocks per game and 90 blocks in the regular season.
The media named Michigan’s LaVell Blanchard Freshman of the Year, while coaches split the award between Blanchard and Brian Cook of Illinois.
Non-silent Knight: After letting Knight blow off the weekly coaches conference call throughout the regular season, the conference office insisted he participate in Monday’s teleconference to preview the Big Ten tournament. Knight was typically gracious. He refused to answer an innocuous question from a Columbus, Ohio, reporter and then reiterated his staunch opposition to the Big Ten tourney. “There would be absolutely nothing that would change my mind about this tournament,” Knight said. “I don’t think that it does a thing except use players to make money–if in fact it does that.”
Badgers optimistic: Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said he believes Sunday’s victory over Indiana will give the Badgers (16-12, 8-8) the Big Ten’s sixth NCAA tourney berth. The Badgers have an RPI below 40 and victories over Temple, Texas, Indiana and Purdue.
“I think we’ve done enough,” Bennett said. “We played the third- or fourth-toughest schedule in the country. We’ve got a good record against the top teams. We play in arguably the toughest conference in America and held our own. If this isn’t good enough, they shouldn’t talk about building a good schedule. Just schedule a lot of puffies. I’m not concerned one bit.”
A victory over 11th-seeded Northwestern on Thursday in the United Center wouldn’t hurt the Badgers’ cause.
Worst-case scenario: In the unlikely event that 10th-seeded Minnesota wins the tournament, the Big Ten would forfeit its automatic NCAA berth. The Golden Gophers have banned themselves from the postseason as part of their self-imposed punishments in the Clem Haskins academic fraud scandal.
“I don’t think that [the Big Ten] is too concerned that [it’s] not going to get anybody in,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. Indeed, Minnesota would need to win as many games (four) in four days as it did in the regular conference season.
Much ado about . . . : O’Neill chuckled when asked what issues would be addressed when the league’s coaches gather for their annual off-season meetings.
“We’ll talk about the officiating for 20 minutes and we’ll all go away [angry],” he said. “I don’t think much will be accomplished. I don’t think a lot will change. We might talk about golf. Bob [Knight] will talk about fishing.”
