Beasley, Hansbrough in two-man PoY race
Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 6:11 PM
Filed Under:
Freshmen, Player of the Year
Plenty of opinions accompany the Player of the Year race. Yet, there’s rarely little disagreement when all the awards are handed out.
This isn’t one of those seasons.
Much like the J.J. Redick-Adam Morrison debate in 2005 (they shared the Wooden and Naismith awards but Redick won everything else), or when T.J. Ford (Naismith, Wooden), David West (AP, USBWA, Rupp) and Nick Collison (Coaches) split the six major awards in 2003, I doubt there’ll be a consensus when it comes to deciding between Michael Beasley and Tyler Hansbrough this season.
(Kevin Love, D.J. Augustin and D.J. White aren’t more prominent in the discussion, I don’t know. They’re all in Jeff Goodman’s top 7, yet the focus is on Hansbrough and Beasley. Do your part and cast your vote here.)
Let’s compare.
Beasley’s ridonkulous season – 26.7 ppg, 12.6 rpg, 54 percent shooting, including hitting on 40 percent of his 3s – is better than Kevin Durant’s remarkable freshman season when he took every postseason award. Beasley currently leads the nation in rebounding and is third in scoring; Durant was fourth in both last season. And, like Durant, Beasley’s only going to be around one season, which adds to his mystique.
Consider the star freshmen from past seasons. Beasley stacks up against Mark Aguirre (24.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg), Carmelo Anthony (22.2 ppg, 10 rpg), Chris Jackson (30.2 ppg), Bernard King (26.4 ppg, 12.3 rpg) and Waymon Tisdale (24.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg), though Anthony won a title and Aguirre went to the Final Four. And he equals previous PoYs like Durant, Andrew Bogut (20.7 ppg, 12.3 rpg), Jameer Nelson (20 ppg, 5.4 apg) and Redick (27.4 ppg).
But if it were all about stats, Keydren Clark, Jason Conley or Rueben Douglas would have awards on their shelves.
And this is where Hansbrough comes into play, because a Player of the Year should play for an elite team, if not the nation’s best team.
That’s Beasley’s biggest hinderance. Consider Durant’s on-court results. Last year at this time, Texas was 22-8 overall, 12-4 in Big 12 play and ranked 15th in the AP poll. K-State (19-10, 9-6) is toying with the bubble and that hurts Beasley’s perception with the voters.
Meanwhile, Hansbrough (23.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg) is the focal point of the nation’s No. 1 team. The Heels (27-2) have dealt with injuries to guards Ty Lawson and Bobby Frasor, yet Hansbrough – a player that endures more punishment than any other NCAA player – has ensured they’re still a title contender. Without Lawson, UNC was 6-1 and Hansbrough averaged 28.5 and 10.3 a game.
Plus, he impresses every onlooker by playing harder than anyone this side of KG, which is one of the main reasons why he’s SI.com’s pick for PoY. Well, that and everything else I just wrote about.
The funny thing is, all of that also describes the nation’s other premier post player, Kevin Love.
As John Gasaway pointed out last week, Love’s numbers are just as good, if not better than Hansbrough’s. Not the basic numbers (17.3 ppg, 11.1 rpg), but his tempo-free stats, which give us a better measurement of his overall value to the Bruins.
Off. Def. Off.
Rtng. FTRate eFG pct. Reb. Pct. Reb. Pct. %Poss.
Hansbrough 127.5 79.8 55.8 20.6 12.6 26.6
Love 127.3 74.1 61.2 30.5 17.0 27.5
Beasley 120.4 47.9 57.7 29.3 14.5 33.0
Love scores as efficiently, rebounds better and his eFG is stellar. He carried the Bruins to start the season while point guard Darren Collison nursed an injury. Love’s not UCLA’s flashiest player (see: Westbrook, Russell), but he’s their most important when it comes to title considerations.
If Hansbrough gets extra credit for UNC’s record, why wouldn’t Love? He’s just as crucial for the third-ranked Bruins (26-3).
So why no Love? He hasn’t been on ESPN a bazillion times like Hansbrough (Fox’s regional coverage doesn’t hit homes like ESPN) and doesn’t doesn’t have overwhelming stats or make NBA scouts drool like Beasley. It’s strange to think a UCLA player deserves more attention, yet it’s true.
If the awards were given out after the tournament, Love could very well snag a couple with a UCLA Final Four run. He’ll simply have to settle for All-America honors. PoY awards are going to be between Hansbrough and Beasley.
My guess is Beasley takes a couple (AP and Rupp seem likely), while UNC’s record and Hansbrough’s name recognition probably give him the Wooden, Naismith and coaches’ awards.
Frankly, it’s a Clinton-Obama situation. You can’t really go wrong choosing either one, but someone’s gonna pull ahead. And it’s not gonna make everyone happy. Me, I’m going with Love.
