By now you probably know that Indiana got zero recognition in the Big Ten men’s basketball honor parade. No player earned as much as honorable mention recognition, the result of a last-place 3-15 conference record.
Purdue and Ohio State dominated the awards, which is what you’d expect from the league’s top two teams.
The Boilers’ JaJuan Johnson beat out the Buckeyes’ Jared Sullinger for Big Ten player of the year honors.
Who did IU coach Tom Crean vote for in the MVP race? He declined to say during this week’s Big Ten teleconference (voting was done via a secret ballot), but did list his MVP criteria.
“What goes into that is that it doesn’t matter about the position or the age,” he said. “Do you impact winning and do you make your teammates better? Do you allow your teammates to have a level of confidence they otherwise wouldn’t have because you’re in the game. It’s not about numbers or statistics.”
Other MVP candidates included Penn State’s Talor Battle, Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor and Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore.
“There are a lot of different ways people could go in this league,” Crean said before the awards were announced. “I’d be shocked if it’s not one of the closer votes. There are so many good players in this league.”
The voting tally was not announced, so we don’t know how close it was.
IU will test Battle’s MVP worthiness on Thursday night when the Hoosiers (12-19) play Penn State (16-13) in the opening round of the Big Ten tourney at Indianapolis’ Conseco Fieldhouse.
The winner moves on to play third-seeded Wisconsin on Friday.
The loser goes on spring break.
*****
Here is the All-Big Ten team as chosen by league coaches:
FIRST TEAM
Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
JAJUAN JOHNSON, Purdue
E’Twaun Moore, Purdue
Jon Leuer, Wisconsin
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin
SECOND TEAM
Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
William Buford, Ohio State
David Lighty, Ohio State
Talor Battle, Penn State
THIRD TEAM*
Demetri McCamey, Illinois
Darius Morris, Michigan
Draymond Green, Michigan State
John Shurna, Northwestern
Michael Thompson, Northwestern
Jon Diebler, Ohio State
HONORABLE MENTION
Mike Davis, Illinois
Melsahn Basabe, Iowa
Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan
Jeff Brooks, Penn State
Lewis Jackson, Purdue
Keaton Nankivil, Wisconsin
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Jereme Richmond, Illinois
Melsahn Basabe, Iowa
TIM HARDAWAY JR., Michigan
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
JARED SULLINGER, Ohio State
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Delvon Roe, Michigan State
AARON CRAFT, Ohio State
David Lighty, Ohio State
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin
PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
DEFENSIVE PLAYER
OF THE YEAR:
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
JARED SULLINGER, Ohio State
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR:
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
COACH OF THE YEAR:
Matt Painter, Purdue
UNANIMOUS SELECTIONS
IN ALL CAPS
* Multiple honorees due to tie
*****
Coaching is a cut-throat business. Win and everybody loves you. Lose and you’re gone.
It happened even to Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, the all-time leader in coaching victories.
Now, it’s happened to his son.
Pat Knight was fired after going 50-60 in just over three years as the Texas Tech head coach. The Red Raiders were 13-18 this season, 5-11 in the Big 12. His best record was last year, when Texas Tech went 19-16 and reached the NIT quarterfinals.
In a twist, Knight will coach his team through this week’s Big 12 tourney. And if the Red Raiders would manage a huge upset, win the event and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA tourney, well, wouldn’t that make for an intriguing job-hunting process?
Knight played at IU from 1991-95. He was a scout for the Phoenix Suns, an assistant coach for the CBA’s Connecticut Pride and a coach in the U.S Basketball League and the International Basketball Association. He also was an assistant at Indiana and Akron before joining his father at Texas Tech, and then replacing him.
Texas Tech lost seven games in the last minute this season. Knight talked about how he, like his father, ran a clean program that graduated its players and instilled discipline.
As former IU football coach Bill Lynch discovered, that’s not good enough.
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