Big 12: Anderson more than player of the year
Oklahoma State’s James Anderson has been named the Big 12′s player of the year. But there’s sort of an underlying belief that Anderson might not have been selection if the award was named something different. Like MVP. Most Valuable Player.
The theory goes this way: Anderson is the Big 12′s best player. But the value of someone like Kansas point guard Sherron Collins is greater, since he led the Jayhawks to a 15-1 conference record and the current No. 1 ranking.
The theory is nonsense. The whole idea that there’s a difference between player of the year and MVP is nonsense. That’s what player of the year means. Value to a team. Different words. Same meaning.
Anderson clearly is the league’s most valuable player. OSU will reach the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. The Cowboys would not be in this situation — not even close — without Anderson. That doesn’t have value? That doesn’t have immense value?
Kansas might still have won the league without Collins and would be a contender to go deep into the NCAA Tournament. Maybe not win it, but certainly go deep. And Kansas could far more easily find an adequate replacement for Collins than OSU could for Anderson.
“Obviously, one of the best players in America is Anderson,” said OU coach Jeff Capel, whose squad plays the Cowboys at 6 tonight at the Sprint Center. “He’s older. He can score. He can score in so many different ways. He has an air of confidence. They feed off that.”
A ballteam feeding off its star and reaching achievements that seemed hard to reach? That’s the definition of value. James Anderson is more than the Big 12 player of the year. He’s the league MVP.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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