When Nathalie Fontaine was being recruited to Ball State, coach Brady Sallee told her she had Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year potential.
He was right.
The MAC announced the 2012-13 players of the season for Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year.
“Honestly, I thought it was probably a no-brainer,” Sallee said of Fontaine winning her award.
Sallee cited the fact that she was the only freshman to be named in any of the First, Second or Third All-MAC teams. Fontaine was named on the Second Team All-MAC on Thursday.
Sallee said he knew how much Fontaine would play this year.
“That award goes to a freshman that their team needs them to play right away,” Sallee said. “I’m sure there’s a lot of talented freshmen out there. Whether they’re on Toledo’s team or Akron’s team, they may not be getting the minutes that Nathalie got.”
Fontaine was third on the team with 33.2 minutes per game. She also finished with the team lead in points with 13.3 per game. That was two more than the next-highest scorer on Ball State, Brandy Woody.
Fontaine also grabbed 6.4 rebounds per game, also a team-high.
Sallee said that her winning the award was a combination of Fontaine’s talent and available opportunity.
“I don’t know if you ever expect somebody to do that, but we thought she definitely had the talent to garner the recognition she did,” Sallee said.
In his time as head coach, Sallee has had multiple Freshman of the Year winners.
“We’ve had some that have taken it and catapulted it into All-Conference players and potential Player of the Year candidates, and we’ve had some that that was the highlight of their career,” Sallee said of Fontaine’s future. “It’s really up to her.”
One thing that has been said about Fontaine going forward in her career is her build. She was pushed around in the post by teams who had bigs with more strength.
Sallee said that Fontaine is already a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses, and should continue to improve as she gets more acclimated to the American game.
Ball State senior forward Shanee’ Jackson won Sixth Man of the Year.
“In order to excel in that sixth man role, you have to accept it and be willing to do it,” Sallee said.
He praised Jackson’s ability to embrace her role as a sixth man on the team.
Sallee said it takes a special kid to “never say one word about not starting.”
Jackson scored 7.2 points per game and added 4.3 rebounds per game this season, including a 17-point outburst in a loss to Toledo on Feb. 10.
Despite much Twitter support by Ball State Athletics, Sallee fell short of MAC Coach of the Year.
Toledo’s Tricia Cullop took home the award.
“I told my staff this, they were a little bit upset about it, I told them, ‘When we’re 27-2, we can expect to win coach of the year.’ I have no problem with that being the precedent in this league. Now we know what we’re gunning for.”
