By Brandon Davis
With two-thirds of the college basketball regular season in the books, it now seems fitting to initiate some realistic discussion regarding late season awards; Big East Player of the Year to be specific.
With that being said, I give you University of Louisville senior forward Terrence Williams.
Now let me explain how I define the POY criteria.
First and foremost, look at the overall accomplishments of the team in which the candidate plays for.
Second, look at how they performed in the big games against quality opponents in the clutch. Pay particular attention to how the candidate performs in actual conference play. Since we are discussing Big East Player of the Year, the in-conference productivity must be given extra consideration.
Finally, a true POY candidate must go beyond simply putting up impressive statistics, they must be actively involved in making their teammates better. Don’t get me wrong, stats matter, but winning matters the most.
I challenge anyone to name me two other players in the Big East, at this point in time, that have had more of an all around impact on big games and big wins than T-Will.
But you might not want to ask Williams about his POY chances.
“I don’t want to be the Player of the Year,” Williams said. “What I want is this team to win. I want this team to reach our potential.”
None the less, Williams’ recent level of play has not just been among the best in the Big East, it’s been among the best in the country. Williams’ effort against Notre Dame on Jan.12 has to be considered among the most outstanding individual performances of the season: 24 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists. Enough said.
“He is having a great season and he’s a dominant basketball player in all phases of the game,” Rick Pitino, U of L head coach, said. “That’s what T-Will does for us; he does so many different things that you’ve got to recognize him for those accomplishments.”
Not only has he become a one man highlight reel, but over the course of his four-year career, Williams has developed into one of the few college basketball players that can dominate a game without scoring a bundle of points. Williams is the only player in major college basketball to average at least 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists a game.
“He’s playing as well as any player in the country,” Pitino said. “Some guys have to have certain things go well for them to have a great game. [T-Will] doesn’t have to have one area go well [to be dominant].”
The only other candidate that could make a legitimate argument is Notre Dame junior forward Luke Harangody. There’s no way around it, Harangody has been flat out amazing all season averaging 25 points and 13 rebounds. But what gives T-Will the edge over the reigning Big East POY is the current status of their respective teams.
Since the start of conference play, the Irish have dropped six of their first nine and are 1-6 against ranked Big East opponents, while the Cards have emerged as, not only one of the best teams in the conference, but one of the best squads in all of college basketball.
If U of L continues to play at the level they’ve been at since the start of the New Year, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe that this group of Cards can be one of the teams playing on the final weekend of college basketball in Detroit. And that would be just fine with me and T-Will.
