Man, am I angry.
All season long I try to stick up for the Mid-American Conference.
People try to talk trash about the mid-major conference and I always respond with, "The MAC doesn't get the amount of respect it deserves. There is a lot of hard, tough competition in the MAC."
Well, the MAC is quickly losing my respect.
Wednesday the MAC Media vote had been tallied and the 2002 Player of the Year was announced. Its winner: Bowling Green's Keith McLeod. That's right, a player who hasn't really made that much noise this year in the real scheme of things picked up the award over Ball State's much more deserving Theron Smith. Smith lost by six votes.
One sentence sums up my argument as to why Smith should have received the award: Smith finished the regular season with 19 double-doubles.
This award is not called the "2002 MAC Leading Scorer of the Year" award, it's for the best player. The only category the Bowling Green guard really even dominated this year was that - scoring. McLeod averaged 22.3 points a game. There is more, however, to being Player of the Year than scoring points. Player means defense, offense, rebounding and personality.
When Ball State and Bowling Green played earlier this season, McLeod had 36 points, but they lost by 13 points, 92-79. Thirty-six points shouldn't mean squat if the team doesn't get a win.
McLeod scores a lot because he shoots a lot. Look at Kobe Bryant - he scores a lot because he's selfish. Allen Iverson is the same way. McLeod scored a lot because out of the top 15 field-goal-percentage shooters in the conference, only one player had more field-goal attempts. It was Steve Reynolds from Western Michigan. Not only does McLeod have more attempts than everyone but one person in the top 15, he ranks 12th out of those 15.
Where does Smith rank on that list? He ranks sixth with 54 fewer attempts, and he shot seven percentage points better than the supposed "Player of the Year."
McLeod was voted this award for a couple of reasons.
First, the people who voted for him are stupid. All they did was look at the leading scorer list, saw his name at the top, and made their pick. There is more to basketball than points.
Second, McLeod is a poster child for the state of Ohio. He's from Bowling Green, an Ohio school. Let us count the number of Ohio-based schools in this league. There is Ohio, Kent State, Akron, Toledo, Miami and Bowling Green.
I'm sure the fact that McLeod is from an Ohio school had nothing to do with him being chosen as the best player this season.
The repercussions of this wrongful decision will certainly be felt come Friday. If Ball State defeats Miami tonight, then the Cardinals next opponent will more than likely be Bowling Green - McLeod's beloved Ohio school.
If anyone thinks for a minute that Theron Smith won't' be out to avenge this bad decision, then you haven't been watching him this year. Be forewarned. By the end of this MAC Tournament, it will be obvious as to who should have been named Player of the Year.
Write to Greg at gmfallon@bsu.edu
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