March Madness Awards

Let's just jump right into it. I came up with some award winners for tournament performances, both team and individual. Unlike most who give out awards, mine are not entirely contingent on winning (mostly because I don't want to give many awards to Duke players!).
Here they are...hopefully they'll generate some comment discussions.

Best Individual Performance (Single Game):
Jimmer Fredette, #7 BYU vs #10 Florida
Check out this vid! Apparently this song is some kind of a remix by his brother, TJ, and about Jimmer.


I realize we're going way back to day 1 here, but so what? In every game the season is on the line, and this dude flat out filled it up against Florida. He finished with 37 on the day, and was virtually unstoppable late in the game when he single-handedly took over and led BYU to round 2. He was the talk of the tourney early, and I think would have been the news Steph Curry had BYU been able to win one more. Plus, he gets bonus points for having an unusual name. Mormons.

Best Team Performance (Single Game):
#14 Ohio University Bobcats, 1st Round victory over #2 Georgetown.

The Bobcats, weren't even supposed to be in this dance, and yet they managed to take out a Hoya team who many had pegged for at least the Elite 8. They shot an astounding 67% from the floor in the 2nd half to pull away, and shot over 56% from deep for the game. Luck ran out for Ohio though, as they were stomped back into oblivion by Tennessee in round 2.

Best Game:
#5 Michigan State vs. #4 Maryland


There were so many too choose from. Going back to day 1 with FLA/BYU, UNI/UNLV, WFU/TEX, ODU/ND and UT/SDSU. That was just the first day 1! The action was non-stop, and K-State/Xavier will probably be many people's choice. But to me, this MD/MSU game gets the nod, just for the fact that it had two buzzer beaters. This is the one game that I actually jumped off the couch at. (I think I even spilled something).
Greivis Vasquez, a favorite of Jesus, had just hit a runner from about 12 feet to seemingly seal a victory for the Terps, but the Spartans came down and Lucious got a great look at a 3 and buried it to steal the win for Michigan State! They would ride that momentum all the way to the Final Four.

Best Team:
Butler Bulldogs


This may be the trendy pick, but I really don't care. I've come full circle on this team. What is NOT to like? They're gritty, tough, unassumingly athletic, fundamental and feature a 6'9" ballhandling forward with a plethora of moves. They will forever be remembered for this run, and really couldn't lose that game against Duke. Even though they LOST, no one expceted them to win and it was a miracle run anyway. Duke on the other hand will not be remembered for this victory. I think more people might remember that Butler was in the final. Who won the year George Mason made the Final Four? Exactly. I think it was UNC, but I don't even know without looking it up. And you don't either unless you're a UNC fan or that fat guy on ESPN who knows every piece of sports trivia. Butler made this tournament memorable.

Coach of the Tournament:
Tom Izzo, Michigan State


What can I say? Izzo took a group of good but not great players, they certainly underachieved this year, all the way to the Final Four, after losing his best player in the 2nd round. They employed a sort-of point guard-by-committee and made great success with it. He reached his 6th Final Four in a dozen years! That's unreal. I don't care about Coach K winning it all. He had a cakewalk to the championship and beat Butler in the final game. (I know Butler beat MSU, but at that point no Lucas had caught up with them.) MSU's run to me was a very impressive and deserving effort.
Honorable Mention: West Virginia, Butler, St. Mary's

Tournament MOP (Most Outstanding Player):
Evan Turner, Ohio State


Yes, his team bowed out in the sweet 16 against Tennessee. But , it certainly was no fault of his. He finished with 31, 7, and 5 in that game. He averaged 21.3 7 and 8 in OSU's three games. Not too shabby. He is electric and as pure a scorer as colelge basketball has right now. John Wall might go #1 but I think Turner has a chance of being a better pro.

Now for the not so good...

Worst Choke Job:
Texas Longhorns


With a sizeable lead and under two minutes to play, Texas did the improbable and choked away a victory to Wake Forest. Missed free-throws, bad possessions, turnovers, bad fouls, coach ineptitude. All were to blame. This was a choke job for the ages. What made it worse was that they probably thought they'd done enough to survive until Ishmael Smith took it coast to coast and buried the jumper to down the Longhorns.

DST Team(Dog Shit Taco):
I stole this award from my fantasy baseball league. It goes to the worst performer of the week. We'll use it here for the worst team performance and individual performance.
Villanova Wildcats


I don't think I really need to explain, but clearly this was a team not playing its best ball at the end of the year. Scottie Reynolds looked hung-over maybe even drunk and Villanova suffered an embarassing loss to St Mary's.

DST Individual (Dog Shit Taco)
Denis Clemente, Jacob Pullen - Kansas State backcourt
Coach Martin was NOT thrilled.


We're actually going to double team this one and give it to both. They managed one FG between the two of them in the first half against Butler. Granted, they were fresh off the double-OT win against Xavier in which they were dynamite, but their team needed them and they looked like they spent the wee hours of the morning with strippers.