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Presenting the Sun’s Mountain West Conference postseason award winners
The league’s honorees will be announced Monday afternoon, but first, Ryan Greene gives out his picks
SUN FILE PHOTO
New Mexico’s Darington Hobson
Monday, March 8, 2010 | 2:15 a.m.
New Mexico's Dairese Gary
Reader poll
The Mountain West Conference will unveil the league's postseason award winners Monday afternoon, as voted upon by the media.
First, here are the Sun's honorees.
Co-Players of the Year
Darington Hobson — junior guard/forward, New Mexico
Dairese Gary — junior guard, New Mexico
It's the golden question: Do you take the best player from the best team, or the most valuable player from the best team?
Why not both?
On the season, Gary averaged 12.4 points and four assists per game, while Hobson had the league's most impressive stats at 15.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
But without either of them, New Mexico would be hurting and certainly would not be the conference's regular season champs.
In conference play, Hobson averaged a double-double at 14.9 points and 10.1 boards, including seven double-doubles in his last eight games. One was a 10-rebound, 11-assist performance against Utah. The clincher for Hobson's postseason honors was a key blocked shot in the closing minutes of last Saturday's 83-81 win at BYU to all but lock up the league crown for the Lobos.
In terms of all-around package, he's one of the best talents the league has seen.
As for Gary, not only has he been one of the MWC's best late-game performers, but he's done his best against the best.
He averaged 14.3 points and 4.3 assists in 16 league games. But take a closer look. In six games against BYU, San Diego State and UNLV, Gary averaged 18.3 points, 4.7 assists and was 58-of-75 from the free throw line. That's pretty clutch, if you ask me.
I am usually against splitting honors, but honestly, this one was far too close to call.
Coach of the Year
Steve Alford — New Mexico
Alford is 74-24 in three seasons in Albuquerque with a pair of MWC regular season titles to his credit. He's gone 28-3 this season with a bit of a thin rotation, as New Mexico is the only team in the league to use the same starting five each time out. Don't expect him to bolt Lobo-land soon, but also don't expect him to stay forever. Some move by Iowa to force him out, huh?
San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard (left) and Malcolm Thomas
Freshman of the Year
Kawhi Leonard — forward, San Diego State
Leonard has started all 30 games this season for the Aztecs, and it didn't take him long to get accustomed to ball at the Division-I level.
Averaging 12.6 points and 9.6 rebounds with 14 double-doubles, his offensive game is what has progressed the most as the season's worn on. Leonard recently has shown improvement in his touch from 3-point range, which makes him even more dangerous at 6-foot-6.
In conference play, Leonard ranked in the top 10 in the league in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, steals, blocks and minutes played.
Newcomer of the Year
Darington Hobson — junior guard/forward, New Mexico
Pretty much a no-brainer, right?
Defensive Player of the Year
David Foster — sophomore center, Utah
Four blocked shots per game on the season and 3.7 per outing in conference play are pretty hard to argue with. UNLV fans remember him all too well, as he had six blocks in a 73-69 upset of the Rebels on Jan. 16. His season high in swats was 10 against Weber State, and he had nine games with at least six swats. Foster's season was cut short by a game because of an ankle injury.
UNLV's Tre'Von Willis
Related Sun Content
All-Conference First Team
Jimmer Fredette — junior guard, BYU: The league's top scorer at 20.6 ppg, when healthy Fredette is probably its greatest impact player. However, sitting in the second halves at home against UNLV and New Mexico took away some of his luster.
Dairese Gary — junior guard, New Mexico: See above.
Tre'Von Willis — junior guard, UNLV: In conference play, Willis was the only player to average more than 20 points per game (20.3). His numerical improvements across the board from his sophomore to junior seasons were pretty remarkable.
Darington Hobson — junior guard/forward, New Mexico: Also, see above.
Kawhi Leonard — freshman forward, San Diego State: While he looked like a freshman early in the season, he almost never looked like one in conference play ... and that's what the all-league selections are supposed to be based on. He'll play in the NBA some day. Mark my words.
All-Conference Second Team
Ronnie Moss — sophomore guard, TCU: Moss still has a long way to go to reach his full potential, but, on a struggling team, he put up some impressive numbers (14.6 ppg, 6.0 apg) that were pretty tough to compete with.
Jackson Emery — junior guard, BYU: Ranked in the top 10 in the league in scoring, field goal percentage, steals and 3-point field goal percentage.
Roman Martinez — senior forward, New Mexico: The league's fifth-leading scorer at 14.1 ppg, he's easily the MWC's most feared 3-point gun.
Chace Stanback — sophomore forward, UNLV: Stanback found his comfort zone early in league play, and in those 16 games averaged 12.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game.
Malcolm Thomas — junior forward, San Diego State: If it wasn't for Leonard's presence, he'd probably get the nod on the first team. Very similar numbers (11.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg).
Honorable Mention: Billy White, junior forward, San Diego State; Grant Parker, senior forward, Air Force; Dorian Green, freshman guard, Colorado State; Andy Ogide, junior forward, Colorado State; Phillip McDonald, sophomore guard, New Mexico; Zvonko Buljan, senior forward, TCU; Oscar Bellfield, sophomore guard, UNLV; Carlon Brown, junior guard, Utah; Desmar Jackson, freshman guard, Wyoming.
Discussion: 21 comments so far…
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I cant wait for the MWC tournament...UTAH...BYU and then NEW MEXICO!!! Its time to prove that we are the best team in the conference. NO MORE WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR...THE TIME IS NOW
I think Desmar should have been included in one of the teams. It's unfortunate he's on the Wyoming squad, but he is a good PG. Other than that, I;ll agree with everything else.
Agreed, lanea1. I've been saying it since the start of the season when everyone was talking about the possible recruits. I want it NOW! No time like the present!
Interesting picks... Just really don't agree with Hobson or Gary. Especially Gary.
Oh well. Tourney time.
I think Hobson is a no brainer for Player of the Year. Gary has been huge for the Lobos, but I don't think he merits POY consideration. I like that you are thinking outside the box though.
I agree 100% with your first team. I'd put Carlon Brown on the second team in Jackson Emery's place, but that might just be because I hate Jackson Emery.
Good job; good list. I just hope Stanback doesn't get shafted by the media. He deserves second team, no doubt.
@Geezer ... I agree that Emery and Brown could be interchangeable, but Emery just had the numbers.
I agree with your picks Ryan. This is pretty much a given about Darrington Hobson. He is killing it out there. Too bad Lon Kruger didn't want to give him a scholarship and make him a Rebel.
Nice picks, although personally I would have given POY to Hobson alone.
Ryan - Is that Henry Buckley article still in the works? I know a lot of UNLV fans are interested in getting a nice update on the kid.
StoneDog ... Update on Buckley is here: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/mar...
Thank you for leaving tavernai and henderson off of this list. Hobson should win POY, gary is the heart of the team though. Oscar is going to have his hands full when we meet the lobos in the mwc finals.
Thanks for the update Ryan. I must have overlooked that article.
ryphi - kruger didnt pursue Dobson because of his poor academics... it's really a wonder how New Mexico was able to get him eligible but they did and it's payed off big time for them.
Incognito and Ryphi ... I'm kind of 50-50 on the Hobson thing. Yes, he has an NBA game and NBA talent. But I do agree with Kruger's philosophy that if there's the potential for chemistry to be affected, it might not be worth the trouble. Alford's done a great job with him, because Hobson's had his moments (punching Stanback, elbowing Tavernari, etc.)
so fired up.... we HAVE to break this 3/6 seed curse. The message boards and newspapers are ALREADY crying about the location of the MWC tourney and not one basket has been made. They are afraid of us. Lets make sure we pack the mack and go dancing baby.
http://www.themwc.com/sports/m-baskbl/sp...
i like ryan's picks better. 2 guys on first team all defense. Good stuff.
Thanks, runrebs ... I probably would have given sixth man of the year to Brown instead of Tavernari.
Fredette is the best player in the conference. Regretfully, his fight to stay healthy has cost him dearly this year. Hobson never showed he could post huge numbers on teams like Fredette (see BYU @ Arizona). Healthy, Fredette dominates the league, no question. Hobson et al. barely beat BYU with Fredette out of the line up. Look for a rematch and crippling blow to UNLV and NMexico this tournament. The best team will now step forward. They are all healthy and ready to capture the crown. (Remember Davies was out for 4 weeks with an appendicitis). All healthy spells serious trouble for any of the other teams going into the tournament. Watch and see. I'm just sayin' . . .
.....Just say it somewhere else.
Saying Fredette dominates the league IF healthy is like saying Ken Griffey Jr. holds the all-time homerun record IF he never had those injuries in the early 2000s. It's fun to speculate, but it means nothing :)
Typical BYU fan to make lame excuses. UNLV had injuries too, more so than the Cougars. He also seems to have forgotten that BYU got waxed in Las Vegas and lost to New Mexico the first time when Fredette was completely healthy.
I expect another disappointing postseason for BYU. Same old Cougars, same old fans.
Last time I checked Fredette was healthy when UNLV blitzed BYU in vegas. He was shut down by our athletic perimeter defenders and got all of his points at the free throw line. He was vastly outplayed by Tre'von. Maybe if Fredette could show up for a big game without getting the sh*ts he'd be worthy of conference player of the year. On my list he's in 3rd place behind Hobson and Tre'von.
Fredette did well against lesser competition but Tre'von and Hobson played well against everyone and stepped up when it mattered.