Horizon League Awards Announcement, 2016

[agibson]

http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/horizon-league-announces-2016-mens-basketball-awards

2016 Horizon League Men's Basketball Award Winners
Player of the Year: Kay Felder, Oakland (Jr., G)
Defensive Player of the Year: Vashil Fernandez, Valparaiso (Sr., C)
Freshman of the Year: Dikembe Dixson, UIC (F)
Sixth Man of the Year: Max Hooper, Oakland (Sr., G)
Coach of the Year: Bryce Drew, Valparaiso

All-League First Team
Kay Felder, Oakland (Jr., G)
Alec Peters, Valparaiso (Jr, F)
Paris Bass, Detroit (So., G/F)
Matt Tiby, Milwaukee (Sr., F)
Carrington Love, Green Bay (Sr., G)

All-League Second Team
Jalen Hayes, Oakland (So., F)
Cameron Morse, Youngstown State (So., G)
Jordan Fouse, Green Bay (Sr., F)
Jordan Johnson, Milwaukee (Jr., G)
Dikembe Dixson, UIC (Fr., F)

All-Freshman Team
Dikembe Dixson, UIC (F)
Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky (F)
Rob Edwards, Cleveland State (G)
Josh McFolley, Detroit (G)
Jordan Andrews, Youngstown State (G)

All-Defensive Team
Vashil Fernandez, Valparaiso (Sr., C)
Jordan Fouse, Green Bay (Sr., F)
Tai Odiase, UIC (So., F/C)
Joe Thomasson, Wright State (Sr., G)
Carrington Love, Green Bay (Sr., G)

[agibson]

A pleasant surprise to see Bryce win over Donlon.

And great to see Vashil the first player ever named defensive player of the year twice.

But, a big snub for Keith, and for Valpo generally to have only one player on first two teams. Felder vs. Peters, no big surprise there, but a snub of sorts as well.

Hopefully the guys can use this as fuel.

And, by way of meta-critique, that was not at all what I expected in an "awards show"! I thought they'd make us watch the video "live", not drop everything at once at 1:00 PM.

[oklahomamick]

For a team that set HL records in scoring margin, rebounding average, rebounding margin and ties for the 2nd best winning conference winning percentage in HL, I thought they would have more players on the 1st or 2nd team.   

[Kyle321n]

Wow, I just posted my picks. Good timing HL...

[vu72]

I think Carter had a better season then Fouse and Hammink was better (more productive than) Hooper. Hooper played 24.6 minutes and scored 10.5 while Shane had 8.7 in 20.2.  Obviously Shane has many talents (rebounding, guarding, slamin it home etc) while Hooper?? One skill set.  Hardly a sixth man of the year.

The problem here is our depth.  We go 9 deep while other teams put much more pressure on players to play more minutes, thus padding their results, just not on a per minute basis.

[oklahomamick]

The same pre-season voter who voted Detroit for 1st place  must have cast a lot of votes today. 

[a3uge]

The voters do not value defense AT ALL. Hooper was statistically the worst defender on Oakland, a statistically terrible defensive team.

But whatever, Oakland can lobby for more meaningless awards, while Valpo cleans up where it counts - on the actual scoreboard.

[VULB#62]

Where does Keith rank among HL point guards?  Are there any defensive stats that should carry any weight for argument sake?

[valpotx]

Wow, that is just sad.  We kick the crap out of every team in the HL, except for Wright State, and we get 1 player on the 1st/2nd teams?  Hooper getting selected for 6th man of the year over several of our guys is a joke. 

[vu72]

Where does Keith rank among HL point guards?  Are there any defensive stats that should carry any weight for argument sake?

The only one listed is Steals Per Game, where Keith ranked 4th. 

[VULB#62]

How about "point guardy" stats like assists, shooting, etc.?

[valpo64]

I'm not sure, but has the HL office moved to Detroit with King Kampe as Chairman of the Board?  Hard to believe the HL awards.  We wipe the floor for the season and get ONE player total on the first and second teams?  Although Alec deserved the POY I guess I understand KF receiving it..The 6th man thing is a disgrace to the League!!   The guy stands around the 3-point line waiting for someone to get him the ball,does nothing else except meet his Coach's requirement for a one-dimension offensive player, hasn't even taken a 2 point shot yet THIS YEAR, and DOES NOT PLAY A LICK OF DEFENSE!

Just another reason for us to leave the HL.

[wh]

As I alluded to yesterday, this league has a lot of media people with a very superficial, casual fan-like understanding of the game.

Case in point #1 - Valpo is the 2nd best team in the nation in defensive efficiency. Through our defensive prowess, we dominated the league in wins and losses and swept 8 of our 9 conference opponents. And yet, only our offensive star earns a spot in the top 10. We have probably 6 or 7 better defenders on arguably the best defensive team in the history of the HL, yet none are worthy of all-conference in the league they dominated?

Case in point #2 - Valpo is #2 in defensive efficiency in the country and places 1 player on the all-defensive team. The 2nd best team in defensive efficiency WSU (#88) places 0 players on the all-defensive team. Then (are you ready for this one) the 3rd best team in defensive efficiency Green Bay (#195) lands 2 players on the all-defensive team. Would one of the media geniuses or knowledgeable "technicians" on the bloated HL payroll that voted for these guys care to come on here and explain your rationale for selecting 2 players from a team that is closer in ranking to the worst defensive team in the country than they are Valpo. On 2nd thought, don't waste your time. You will only embarrass yourselves further. My simple advice to all of you - try learning the game so you can start earning your damn paycheck.

[vusupporter]

Only coaches vote for the All-Defensive Team and Sixth Man of the Year.

[nkvu]

I think the fact that probably every one of our bench players contributed more than Hooper prevented any one of them from winning the award. They simply split the vote. How do you pick just one?  Simpler to pick the only one from the second best team.

[a3uge]

Just noticed Carrington Love made the all defensive team along with Fouse. Can't even fathom how uninformed you'd have to be to reward 2 UWGB players to the All-Defensive team. Love had a conference dRtg of 108.2 while Keith Carter had a conference over 15 points lower! How on earth does a top 5 defensive team in the country have only 1 player, while a team giving up 82 ppg has two?

[hailcrusaders]

Only coaches vote for the All-Defensive Team and Sixth Man of the Year.

We all know how much some HL coaches value defense...

[hailcrusaders]

Personally, I never got all that invested in post-season player awards. Accolades are nice and if they make the players happy, sure. But I care much more about the team at the top of the standings than the player who got named all-conference.

I see why we're upset over KC et al.'s snubbing, but I'll be much more upset if we don't take care of business a week from now.

Side note: somewhat surprised that Bryce won Coach of the Year over Donlon. I'm not saying he's not the top coach in the league, but Donlon made a contender out of Wright State. Bryce returned the most talent he's ever had to work with.

[nkvu]

The voters do not value defense AT ALL. Hooper was statistically the worst defender on Oakland, a statistically terrible defensive team.

But whatever, Oakland can lobby for more meaningless awards, while Valpo cleans up where it counts - on the actual scoreboard.

Hopefully the individual disrespect other than Alec and Vashil will provide even more motivation to win the conference tournament convincingly.

[a3uge]

Donlon lost to a team that won 0 games outside of conference and has an RPI of 348. That should be an automatic disqualifier.

[wh]

Personally, I never got all that invested in post-season player awards. Accolades are nice and if they make the players happy, sure. But I care much more about the team at the top of the standings than the player who got named all-conference.

I see why we're upset over KC et al.'s snubbing, but I'll be much more upset if we don't take care of business a week from now.

Side note: somewhat surprised that Bryce won Coach of the Year over Donlon. I'm not saying he's not the top coach in the league, but Donlon made a contender out of Wright State. Bryce returned the most talent he's ever had to work with.

Of course the most important thing is what happens in the tournament. There isn't a soul on this board that would disagree with that. That, however, does not render individual post honors meaningless. Our guys have worked their tails off to get where they are, and they should receive every form of recognition - both individually and collectively - that they have rightfully earned. Don't think for a minute that the players don't know that they got royally screwed on this sham list and are bothered by it.

[hailcrusaders]

Where does Keith rank among HL point guards?  Are there any defensive stats that should carry any weight for argument sake?

Steals -- Guards
1. Love, GB 77
2. Felder, Oak 63
3. Carter, Valpo 49
4. Morse, YSU 45
5. Santiago, YSU 42

Steal Percentage -- Guards
1. Love, GB 4.0
2. Carter, Valpo 3.4
3. Hales, CSU 3.0
4. Felder, Oak 2.9
5. McFolley, Det 2.8

Defensive Rating -- Guards
1. Carter, Valpo 89.5
2. D. Walker, Valpo 90.9
3. T. Walker, Valpo 91.8
4. Hammink, Valpo 92.2
5. Thomasson, WSU 97.1
Lol

Defensive Win Shares -- Guards
1. Carter, Valpo 2.2
2. Thomasson, WSU 1.8
3. Alstork, WSU 1.6
4. T. Walker, Valpo 1.5
5. D. Walker, Valpo 1.5

Defensive Box +/- Guards
1. Carter, Valpo +3.5
2. Thomasson, WSU +3.1
3. Hales, CSU +2.8
4. Hammink, Valpo +2.6
5. T. Walker, Valpo +2.3

[agibson]

Just noticed Carrington Love made the all defensive team along with Fouse. Can't even fathom how uninformed you'd have to be to reward 2 UWGB players to the All-Defensive team. Love had a conference dRtg of 108.2 while Keith Carter had a conference over 15 points lower! How on earth does a top 5 defensive team in the country have only 1 player, while a team giving up 82 ppg has two?

Steals. They're in the box score, with an individual's name attached.

Can it really be as simple as this?

[jloose128]

I can't tell if they're just being overly dramatic or genuinely think this, but people on both the Green Bay and Milwaukee boards think Fouse was robbed from defensive player of the year.

Vashil has the second best defensive rating in the NCAA (83.1) behind only Egidijus Mockevicius of Evansville, so....

Though I will admit I was surprised that Bryce won coach of the year.

[a3uge]

Vashil actually had a better year statistically than last year defensively. He should be in the conversation for national defensive player of the year.