Ah, sports. Is there anything that has more premature assumptions and predictions? A few weeks ago, Illinois football fans thought they were Rose Bowl-bound. San Diego Chargers fans assumed this was the year Phillip Rivers would lead them to the Super Bowl. Kris Humphries had a wife, but no job. Now he has a job, but no wife. Premature assumptions and predictions are wrong more often than not. That being said, let’s dish out some premature awards and assumptions. Yes, I realize the season is very young, but this is what the first two weeks have told us. The remaining 15 weeks will tell us more.
Best Team in the Big 12 – Missouri. The Tigers didn’t just beat Notre Dame and #18 California en route to a CBE Classic championship. They demolished them. The Tigers won those games by a combined 68 points. They rank eighth in the nation in field goal percentage, and ninth in the nation in points per game.
Worst Team in the Big 12 – Texas Tech. After three narrow victories over cupcake teams, the Red Raiders have lost their last three. They ranked #200 or worse in points per game, rebounds per game, and assists per game, three rather crucial aspects of basketball. The lone bright spot for Texas Tech has been freshman Jordan Tolbert, who is second in PPG for the Red Raiders, and first in rebounds per game. Most importantly, however, Tolbert went to All Saints Episcopal for high school, the same school famed Rush The Court writer Clark Williams attended.
Big 12 Player of the Year – Kim English, Missouri. Many people probably would expect this to go to J’Covan Brown of Texas or fellow Tiger Marcus Denmon. While both players are scoring more than English, his productivity can be seen across the board. He leads the Big 12 in three-pointers and three-point percentage. He is third in the Big 12 in overall points with 109 so far. To see English’s true value, however, we have to get nerdy. First, English leads the Big 12 in effective field goal percentage, an adjusted statistic that observes the truth that a three-pointer is more valuable than a two. Next, he leads the Big 12 in true shooting percentage, a statistic that gathers three pointers, field goals, and free throws into one shooting percentage. English also leads the Big 12 in my favorite basketball statistic, win shares. Win shares is a statistic created by the famed stat-nerd Bill James, and since the formula is 84-pages long, I won’t describe other than to say that basically, win shares assigns a numeric value for each player’s production in terms of how valuable that player has been in their team winning.
Newcomer of the Year – Quincy Miller, Baylor. With Perry Jones on the bench, Miller has been the spark plug for this Baylor team. He is in the top 10 in most of the statistical categories, and has shown his super athleticism and dynamic abilities from day one.
NCAA Tournament Bound: Baylor, Missouri, Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas.
NIT Bound: K-State, Iowa State, Oklahoma State.