Saturday, March 7, 2015

All Big 12 teams updated through 3/6

Baylor and Tech have already played their final regular season games.  Everybody else is up today, which means the All Big 12 teams will be announced tomorrow.  95% of the stats have been accumulated, the biggest question mark is final team standings, where 2nd place is up for grabs.  This will likely be my last update before the official teams come out.


Buddy Hield is still at the top, but Monte has closed the gap.  A surprising addition to the first team is Taurean Prince, who closed the season out very strong, scoring in double figures in his last 15 conference games.  I had Mason and Anderson tied, but I'd give the nod to Mason.  Two KU players on the first team is appropriate this year.

Jameel McKay made a huge leap in the rankings, benefiting from the increased minutes that come along with starting.  He's now 17th in scoring, 3rd in rebounding and still 2nd in blocks.  I feel very good about the other players on the second team, including Georges.

No big surprises on the 3rd team and honorable mention.

For the first time, I'll try to predict the other honors as well.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Buddy Hield

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR 
Jameel McKay

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 
Jameel McKay

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR 
Miles Turner

SIXTH MAN AWARD
Taurean Prince 

COACH OF THE YEAR 
Bill Self

Big 12 All-Defensive Team
Jameel McKay
Ryan Spangler
TaShawn Thomas
Miles Turner
Rico Gathers
Buddy Hield
Big 12 All-Newcomer Team
Jameel McKay
TaShawn Thomas
Miles Turner
Kelly Oubre
Anthony Hickey

Most of the awards were straight forward, except for coach of the year, which is hard to quantify and all-defensive POY and team.  Looking at last year's team, the picks were pretty subjective.  For this first try, I used rebounds (probably should have just looked at defensive rebounds), steals, blocks and team rank.