Knudson: Only Eastern Media Bias Can Deny Jimmer
FacebookBy Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
January 27, 2011
Enough already.
Enough debate.
If you’ve been paying the slightest bit of attention, then you already know.
College basketball’s Player of the Year, hands down, is Jimmer Fredette.
Case closed.
Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of voters – most notably media members camped out on the East Coast – who have not been paying close attention to what happens outside of their time zone.
They rarely do.
That’s why players and coaches in the Forgotten Time Zone, aka, the Mountain Time Zone (…”so remember, kickoff is at 9pm Eastern, 8pm Central, and 6pm Pacific…”) are often overlooked when it comes time to honor those who’ve earned accolades as the best in their sport.
In Denver alone, it’s happened recently to Nuggets head coach George Karl and Rockies standouts Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzales. All should have been awarded “best of” status after recent season and were snubbed in favor of Eastern Time zone candidates.
That’s also why the Denver Broncos, with the fourth most Super Bowl appearances of all time, have just three players in the NFL Hall of Fame.
But I digress.
The issue at hand is Jimmer Fredette, the other-worldly point guard for BYU who is having a season unlike any in Conference history. Actually, he’s having a season like few have ever had nationally. He’s becoming Pistol Pete Maravich reincarnated right before our eyes.
College basketball was a different game when Maravich played in the late 60s, but the stylistic comparison can be made. Like Fredette, Maravich was taller than most point guards (6’5”) but his ball handling was, as most people know, unmatched. Ball handling is another tremendous attribute of Fredette’s.
Maravich was a one-man gang at LSU, averaging 44 points per game for this three year collegiate career. While Fredette has a talented cast around him on a team that could be as high as a second seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament, he is still the main cog of course, and his recent run of 40-plus point performances has earned him National Player of the Week honors more than once.
Keep in mind that he’s averaging 34 points per game on the road this season and almost 36 ppg in MWC play. It’s astonishing.
The facts are there. Fredette’s performance to date – and there is no reason to think he won’t finish the season in the same manner – has been better than any other player in America. Jared Sullinger of Ohio State is the nation’s best big man, and he’s done a nice job leading the nation’s last unbeaten team to the top of the polls. Kemba Walker of UConn is averaging 24-plus points per game in the Big East, certainly nothing to sneeze at, and Kyle Singler of Duke, who came into the season as the favorite for POY honors, is having a solid season for the one-loss Blue Devils.
All three are very good, All-America type players. None of them can do, or have done, the things Jimmer Fredette has done this season.
You’ve seen that if you’ve been watching.
The problem is those three players all play in the Eastern Time Zone. They are seen by a lot more media members, aka voters, than Fredette is. Those folks don’t normally stay awake to watch games played out west, and with Jimmer, seeing is believing.
Many of these voters are going to dismiss his amazing accomplishments because they believe the game is played on a far superior level where they live (which is hogwash). Having not watched the artistry that is on display when Fredette has the ball in his hands and having not seen the high caliber of play across the Mountain West this season, they will go with their pre-conceived notions and simply do the wrong thing.
There is a precedent for this.
BYU’s next game – the next time the Amazing Jimmer Road Show is on display – is in The Pit on Saturday against New Mexico. Hopefully some on the East Coast will tune in at 4 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Central and 1 p.m. Pacific to watch the best player in college basketball.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
