GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

http://www.gnacsports.com/mbasketbal...all-gnac-team/

Player of the Year: Tanner Omlid, Western Oregon
Coach of the Year: Jim Shaw, Western Oregon
Defensive Player of the Year: Malik Morgan, Western Oregon
Freshman of the Year: Khalil Shabazz, Central Washington
Newcomer of the Year: Luke Chavez, Saint Martin's

[tsull]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

Nice, Tanner had a great season, really fills up the stat sheet, plays hard, great team guy. I thought Chirnside and Faruq-Bey were worthy of honorable mention, but of course I'm biased. :laugh:

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

And with Omlid getting the main POY award and Shabazz FOY, I surely thought Fuquan Niles would've won DPOY. Two seasons straight with over 70 blocks! Come on!

[tsull]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

And with Omlid getting the main POY award and Shabazz FOY, I surely thought Fuquan Niles would've won DPOY. Two seasons straight with over 70 blocks! Come on!

Niles is an excellent player, probably hampered by the fact that CWU is not a good defensive team.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

Nor were they when Joseph Stroud won it 2 seasons ago. Every time he is on the court, he affects the way opponents attack the rim. An excellent true center.

[tsull]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

Nor were they when Joseph Stroud won it 2 seasons ago. Every time he is on the court, he affects the way opponents attack the rim. An excellent true center.

Good points, the coaches vote and see more of the players than any of us do, so they must have had their reasons. I agree with the true center part, wish there were more of them in today's jack-a-three world.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

And with Omlid getting the main POY award and Shabazz FOY, I surely thought Fuquan Niles would've won DPOY. Two seasons straight with over 70 blocks! Come on!

Niles is a great shot-blocker, period. Usually the DPOTY has a combination of stats that combine for that award. Simply being a shot blocker doesn't get you that coveted award. There are a lot of tall players in the GNAC who disrupt offenses in the paint because of their size, but if they are not ripping down boards, stealing it or disrupting passes they gotta do more to be in contention for this award. Often the player comes from one of the leading defensive teams, often they are near the top of the league in rebounds, steals or blocks (or all of those stats). Stroud was a disrupter and a great rebounder and mountains more athletic than Niles in making plays. Plus, CWU is dead last in conference stats for scoring defense-couldn't really go to him no matter with that stat... Morgan comes from the best defensive team in the league and passes well and is near the top in assists & steals. Honestly, I thought there was a chance that Omlid would win both DPOTY and POTY...

Agree with Tsull that I thought WOU would put more on the teams. Thought SMU would have had more as well. But, these are individual accolades, not team accolades, so it's nice for some guys from teams who are done to get recognition for their play too, I guess.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

What about his 7.6 rebounds per game though? To go along with his 71 blocks. With the top to stealers Omlid and Shabazz winning other awards, I thought Niles would be next in line for DPOY. And CWU is 8th in scoring D, but 3rd in FG% D

[tsull]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

I was a bit surprised at Morgan as DPOY, though my sample size is small in watching the team, I thought Ali Faruq-Bey was the best perimeter defender for the Wolves; and I thought Omlid was the best overall defender for Western. Niles did have a fine year, I wouldn't have had a problem with him winning the award. Glad they have the reward to reward that side of the ball.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: GNAC All-Con Team, Omlid POY

What about his 7.6 rebounds per game though? To go along with his 71 blocks. With the top to stealers Omlid and Shabazz winning other awards, I thought Niles would be next in line for DPOY. And CWU is 8th in scoring D, but 3rd in FG% D

Don't be mad at me! I don't vote on these things. Niles had a great 2 years there and he definitely made teams alter their offenses with his presence. The Honorable Mention list was short this year, so it's an honor to even be mentioned. All those guys mentioned plus about 5 more were really forces night in and night out.

That said, here's the conference games stats with CWU last in scoring defense.

http://http://files.streamlinehostin...2/confonly.htm

Niles is 33rd in scoring at 9.3 ppg, 8th in rebounds @ 6.8/g, not listed for steals, and 2.5 in blocks/game to lead the conference. In comparison, Omlid is st in steals/game, 3rd in blocks, 10th in rebounds and 15th in scoring at 13 ppg.... If anyone got ripped off from this award, it's him. I agree that between Niles and Morgan, Niles was a candidate, but I think most would agree that award needed to go to a guy on WOU team.Their defense is incredible. On another note, they only got 2 guys on all the teams combined-CWU got 3 on... That's weird too, I think. I would think WOU coulda had 4 or 5 guys on those teams, but as I mentioned, the HM was short this year.

In the end... it doesn't matter. What matters for CWU is their game tomorrow.