SEC Women's Player of the Year

Congratulations to SYLVIA FOWLES of LSU, named, by a vote of SEC coaches, as the SEC women's player of the year. Broad Beam's Basketball Bulletin had named Candace Parker of Tennessee as player of the year with Bonner of Auburn placing second. Fowles was third. The editor explained to me that the staff of BBBB generally bases its player of the year votes on (1) statistics and (2) team MVP considerations. Based purely on statistics, the vote would have been Parker, Bonner and Fowles 1-2-3, but perhaps the time-honored publication failed to consider this:

For years and years, well, forever, in the Southeastern Conference, Tennessee seems to win all the awards. Year after year after year, it's Tennessee. Seven national titles, too many SEC titles and Coach of the Year awards to tally on my computer, and a whole bunch of Player of the Year awards. I guess this phenomenon, this year, is sort of like the Heisman Trophy (formerly an award to be cherished) situation the year Peyton Manning of Tennessee seemed to be a hands-down favorite. Peyton had all the statistics and all the MVP considerations, yet the Heisman voters had, for some time, been maligned for never giving the award to a defensive player. Pretty much as the result of one spectacular performance on a nationally-televised game, Charles Woodson was awarded the Heisman. Manning went on to receive every other player of the year award in football, and, frankly, it is disappointing, but true, the Heisman lost most of its luster that day. Manning had won awards as a freshman, a sophomore, a junior and throughout the year as a senior, but he was riding the wrong bubble on that wave of history.

This year, in SEC Women's basketball, LSU was undefeated in SEC play and Tennessee lost one. The Lady Vols had (have) a better overall record, but one horrible night can just about ruin a season for awards, if its as bad as the night the Lady Vols had when LSU came to town. In a situation which still seems unimaginable, the Bengal Tigerettes came into Knoxville and trailed the Lady Vols by 21-2 at one point. That's when I turned the game off and did something else. Ho-hum. Another Tennessee home blowout of a nationally-ranked opponent really seemed old hat - I've seen it so many times before - and I wanted to spend my time elsewise. Imagine my disbelief when I read the morning paper's account of a double-digit blowout of the Lady Vols on their home court.

Biggest Meltdown in Basketball History? I don't know, but I still wonder what happened. Oh, yeah, I read the account in the paper, but I still can't figure out how a super-talented team could lose a 19-point lead and lose by double digits at home!

That game resulted in LSU's having the player of the year and the coach of the year, and, frankly, I think I can understand the coaches voted the way they did.

The statistics with all games, and SEC games, if different than all games:

(from official SEC statistics, Atlanta Constitution - Top 15 in all categories)

1. Parker, 2. Bonner, 3. Fowles - Scoring
1. Parker, 2. Bonner, 4. Fowles - SEC Scoring
1. Bonner, 2. Fowles, 5. Parker - Rebounds
1. Fowles, 2. Parker, 5. Bonner - Field Goal Pct.
2. Bonner, 6. Parker, 8. Fowles - Free Throw Pct.
3. Bonner, 11. Parker, 12. Fowles - SEC Free Throw Pct.
7. Parker, 12. Bonner - Steals (Fowles unranked)
5. Parker, 10. Bonner - SEC Steaks (Fowles unranked)
1. Parker, 5. Fowles, 11. Bonner - Blocked shots
2. Parker, 3. Fowles, 6. Bonner - SEC Blocked shots
13. Parker - SEC Assists (Bonner and Fowles unranked)

In the BBBB statistical individual player power ratings, where 11 is the top possible score
and in which 100 is the top RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), the three rank as follows:

Parker - 16 (95 RPI)
Bonner - 22 (89 RPI)
Fowles - 27 (84 RPI)

From blogs and boards, readers will find that Tennessee fans are disgruntled and the rest of the SEC fans are pleased with the selection of Fowles as player of the year. Sylvia was also named defensive player of the year, and so many times, statistics are geared heavily towards offensive statistics, so the RPI ratings above are not automatically indicative of the best player in the SEC. One thing we do know for sure is that tonight at the Sommet Center in Nashville (not the Summit in Knoxville where LSU already won decisivelly), #2-seeded Tennessee and #1-seeded regular season conference champ LSU square off for the tournament championship, and we can all see for ourselves who's the best, at least for this one game! Tennessee fans are accustomed to being #1 in the country, but, Vols, you can't be #1 in the country if you're only #2 in your conference.

Or can you?