Apparently there was something of a theme. That the rematch of Thabeet-Blair would also decide the Big East Player of the Year race.
“It will be the same as last time,” Blair told reporters Wednesday. “It’ll be a celebrity death match.”
“Starring,” Jeff Adrien added Thursday, “him and Hasheem.
“Whoever can win that battle will definitely be on top of the celebrity status.”
It seems that many are undecided between Blair, Thabeet and McNeal. Confession time. I didn’t pick any of the three. My choice for BEPOY is actually Louisville’s Terrance Williams. His defense. Playing essentially a point-forward on the team. Scoring inside and out. His leadership. He’s been everything you could want. Without Williams, Louisville is just a better looking version of Providence.
Yet the media seems to love Blair (and I’m not coing to complain, I’m just admitting he wasn’t my pick in the conference).
If it indeed has come down to this week, then Blair has now got to be in the driver’s seat. Against No. 13 Marquette Wednesday night, he had 23 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor and 9 of 12 shooting at the line. He added nine rebounds, three assists and four blocks in the Panthers’ 90-75 win. More importantly, he stayed out of foul trouble (this is our concern, dude) and logged 35 minutes of action.
Rival POY candidate, Jerel McNeal, also had 23 points, but he got his on 8 of 24 shooting (4 of 12 from three) as the Golden Eagles lost their third straight (all against top 6 competition). To win POY, McNeal needed to carry his team without Dominic James, and in his first game attempting to do so, he shot 3 of 19 from the floor. Although he’s been extremely reliable all year, this 11-for-43 stretch could cost him the award.
It’s Blair, however, that has the distinctive edge come Saturday. If he does anything close to what he did last time against the Huskies (22 and 23, one block, one reverse arm-bar suplex), he’ll take home the hardware. He’s certainly a deserving winner, despite the fact that he’s only a super-soph. The Bilastrator calls him the best offensive rebounder in the nation.
Back to the game on Saturday, Thabeet is saying it’s not about him.
“It is not about Hasheem against Pittsburgh,” he said Thursday. “It’s about UConn basketball.”
Yet, those ways of thinking are not mutually exclusive — especially now, especially under these circumstances. Top-ranked UConn closes the regular season Saturday at No.3 Pittsburgh, a game that presents the Huskies (27-2, 15-2 Big East) with an opportunity for an 11th conference title.
We’ll see.
A couple other things. A list of 3 reasons each way why Pitt or UCon can win.
And finally a video preview from CBS.
In for 09 . Out
PittBlather . Vogue
D Blair . P Hilton
J Dixon . D Trump
Nonetheless, Blair is as good a candidate as anyone — and more of a comlete player than Thabeet. I actually think he is more valuable to Pitt than Thabeet is to UConn.
Haven’t seen enough of Williams