I'm not surprised that I was absolutely all over the post season OAC awards. The oac preview I posted before the season was right on the money, almost a carbon copy, furthering my reputation as the most knowledgeable OAC mind going right now. And that’s a very sad commentary on my life, by the way. You don’t wanna be able to predict how the league is gonna finish and you don’t wanna be able to name 11 outta 12 names on the first two teams and a hand full of the honorable mentions. You don’t wanna be able to predict that Trevor Scott (average player) is gonna make the first team. Its just the OAC journeymen inside of me I guess, and the ability to be a scary judge of talent.
To be honest, I was pretty surprised Nate Stahl racked his 2nd OAC player of the year award earlier this week. I was never sold on him playing against him, and have continued to be very skeptical watching him closely twice this year. I question a lot of things about him, mainly how hard he plays. I have just never seen him play on anything less than cruise control. I know that's just how he is, and how his body language naturally looks, but I think its pretty visible to guys who play against him and are bumping and moving with him all game that he's never going 110. I don't think the guys from Heidelberg have been sitting around drinking, and Jim Smalley just blurts out, "wow, Stahl plays his ass off huh?" I have also never seen him make a hard dribble move to the basket. The guy can't dribble. You can count on one hand how many times he's driven from the top of the key to bucket and finished a contested layup. Nevertheless, as Terry Walsh has said "he could be the best shooter in the country though", and he proved that two years ago leading the country in 3 point shooting. He also defends pretty well because he is so long, and he goes after and gets a lot of rebounds when he wants to. He is also a sneaky dunker. And I hate those guys who act like they can't dunk when in reality they do a cool looking two hand smash.
You could have done a lot worse than picking Nate Stahl again. I was very surprised they did not pick Ryan Wood. He was a senior who had a great stat and high percentage year, and has arguably been the better player of the two over the last couple years. He's much more intense and aggressive offensively. He can also put it on the floor, grab some key and cause some damage. Both of those guys though had a very funny way of just totally backing off and disappearing down the stretch of close games. And that's kind of a weird thing to me. These guys are really really good, yet none of them want anything to do with the ball late in games. Neither of them wanna shoot. Neither wanna take their guy off the dribble and draw a foul. Its gotta have something to do with their coach and how they have been coached. Maybe they just stress team, team, 5 guys no matter what at Capital. I know I am going off about 10-12 games that i have played or watched in against those two guys, but even in scouting reports in the past, you have seen stat trends that these guys went AWOL for long stretches of games. Ryan Wood scoreless in this year's semi-final. Nate Stahl, 10 points in this year's chip. Anyway, let's move on.
I thought Justin Gaines was a huge reach for the first team. I did not see him play this season, and just looking at box scores from time to time, didn’t think he was any different than he has been in previous seasons. My buddy from Wilmington who is also a coach assured me that he played very well this year, playing under control and didn't force many shots. If that is true, then it becomes much less of a reach, cause Gaines is a real good player and athlete.
Big ups to Big Rude for representing John Carroll on the first team. He had a great season, shot a high percentage, and led a great team to regular season and tournament titles. He continued to show that fitness level has nothing to do with being a good OAC player, or any player for that matter aside from possibly the NBA. Its about being better mentally and being the toughest guy in the last 4 minutes. It's about having the balls and the confidence to take shots and go to the basket and make free throws. And Rudy has that more than a lot of guys who have played around here over the years.
Maurice Haynes had another very solid year. I am pretty confident that he will find himself on the first team next season. Chris Zajac was the third and final John Carroll rep on the post season awards. Chris had a phenomenal year, including the 10 game terror that he is currently on where he has arguably been the best player in the league in all areas. He should have been an easy second team pick.
And that’s what I don’t really understand about how they set these teams. You're trying to tell me that Brian Pollock is one of the 12 best players in that league? You gotta be kidding me right? That kid can't play. He would barely get burn on Ohio Northern, much less Wilmington Carroll and Cap. What he does do well is score ½ a point per minute on the shittiest team in the league. I mean, you can't be serious with that pick. Anyone who is good in this league can score 20 points in 40 minutes taking unlimited shots for a terrible team. Are we in agreement on that? You put me on Otterbein this season, give me the ball, play me 40 minutes a game, give me free reign to shoot when I feel I have a good look or advantage situation, and without a shadow of doubt in my mind I would average 24.1 points per game especially in a year where the league was down a little. How can anyone vote for him then? There is no coach except Ricky Reynolds who would take him. Are you trying to tell me that Coach Hunt from Wilmington takes Pollock over King Zaj? ABSOLUTELY NOT. These are stats driven awards. They in no way reveal who can really play the game in this league. The fact that there were like 10 guys from Marietta in the mentions was a travesty. Never saw them play, but come on you're rewarding 3 or 4 guys for going .500 in a year where the league was way down. The Marietta game is a game where you go out the night before smoke, drink, get arrested, don’t sleep and still win by 20-30. This year you could drink, and still win by a 10. JOSH CALVER? LET'S BE SERIOUS. Here are my season awards:
First Team:
Meyer
Wood
Stahl
Kirbus
Haynes
Bene
Second Team:
Scott
Gaines
Rogers
Switzer
Zajac
Crozier
Honorable Mentions:
Q. Mitchell
Kurtis Brown
Casey Brown
Corey Shontz
Tyler Kircsh
Brian Dandrea
Tyler Ledford
Trevor Halter
Kevin Knabb
Brian Pollock
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