MEC Postseason Awards 2019

[Scrub]

Just wanted to open a thread to see if anyone had comments on yesterday's announcement of the MEC Men's postseason awards.

I admit I was shocked that Yoakum was Freshman of the Year. I assumed Wise's Briggs Paris had the Frosh award sewn up. He was pretty prolific this season. I was also surprised that Meininger (and Larenz Thurman for that matter) were voted onto the first team. I would have thought Thomas Lang or Jair Rodgers could have easily jumped those two for first-team slots. And further down the list, I'm floored that the Wesleyan Honorable Mention pick was Clay Todd. I thought BOTH of the Serbs were more valuable to that team than Todd (Petrovic in particular).

[Columbuseer]

Re: MEC Postseason Awards 2019

Just wanted to open a thread to see if anyone had comments on yesterday's announcement of the MEC Men's postseason awards.

I admit I was shocked that Yoakum was Freshman of the Year. I assumed Wise's Briggs Paris had the Frosh award sewn up. He was pretty prolific this season. I was also surprised that Meininger (and Larenz Thurman for that matter) were voted onto the first team. I would have thought Thomas Lang or Jair Rodgers could have easily jumped those two for first-team slots. And further down the list, I'm floored that the Wesleyan Honorable Mention pick was Clay Todd. I thought BOTH of the Serbs were more valuable to that team than Todd (Petrovic in particular).

Agree it is surprising but I support the decision on yoakum and meininger.

Yoakum puts on 15 more lbs and he will be a matchup nightmare next year. Meininger lost 15 lbs this year and it elevated his game. Not many guys can bang underneath, be deadly from 3 and play pg seamlessly on occasion with bullet passes as needed.
I thought ya hill might get freshman of year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: MEC Postseason Awards 2019

Who does the voting? These things often get pretty political.

I get the vibe there was animosity toward Concord. Their coach is a handful and overly outspoken, Bolte is pretty arrogant (put mildly) and Jair was accused of being a flopper several times.

[Dirtybird]

Re: MEC Postseason Awards 2019

I think their is a distinct advantage for the red-shirt freshman. That's what makes the true freshman like Hill for WL, what he did this year impressive. A year of learning the college game, getting physically stronger and acclimated to the grind, and learning how to play in a school's system sets a player up for success much more than coming straight from high school to the college game. That being said Yoakum had a great year and was very deserving. I thought it would be him, Hill, or the kid from UVWise.

[boatcapt]

Re: MEC Postseason Awards 2019

To the victor goes the spoils. Look at the Postseason Awards for almost any league and you will see a healthy dose of players from the team that won the championship at the top of a lot of the award categories. One could make an argument that Yoakum was more impactful to WLU's success than Paris was to Wise's because WLU had success and Wise did not.

As for good players who aren't selected were people think they should be, make no mistake, opinion and perception matter in these things. If you are an arrogant butt hole or your HC is, there is probably a good chance that some of the voters are going to use their one opportunity to try and nock you down a peg or two.

I am a bit surprised that Hill didn't get at least an Honorable Mention All-MEC award. True Freshman comes in, starts every game for the Conf champion, averages 12 PPG and #2 on the team in 3 point shooting (on a team that lives by the 3) and #3 is assists. Should have gotten some sort of accolade. Always have to be mindful of a "sophomore slump" but I think the future is VERY bright for Hill next year and he may even be more important to future teams than Yoakum (although Yoakum is going to be VERY good in his own right!!).