In addition to the weekly voting privileges that come with being part of the AP poll, there's also the responsibility to choose three All-America teams, player of the year and coach of the year.
As it turns out, the player of the year was the easy part.
It's Michael Beasley. Period. He's the best player in the country. It doesn't matter that he's a freshman, doesn't matter he does not play for the No. 1 team in the land, doesn't matter that he makes it look absurdly easy. The Kansas State gets my vote because he is better than every other player in the land, and I won't change my mind no matter how much other people fawn over intangibles.
Coach of the year is a really tough vote, because you have to decide what's most important. Is it the coach whose team most exceeded expectations, even if the expectations were flawed? Is it the coach who constructed the most talented team, even if everyone figures it was done in a shady manner? Is it the coach who handled in-season adversity the best?
I don't think there's a right answer. It's in the eye of each individual voter. I took a look at Drake's Keno Davis and Purdue's Matt Painter, and both deserve credit for fine jobs this year. But it's hard to argue that Texas' Rick Barnes (thriving in the post-Durant era) and Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon (doing more than treading water despite injuries) weren't even better.
I ultimately gave my vote to a guy whose team won 27 games, spent nearly the entire season in the top 10, and played an entirely revamped offensive system this season. Although I will never be accused of being a Mike Krzyzewski fan, it is impressive that he adapted so well so deep into his career when he could have just stuck with what got him where he is and wound up with a borderline NCAA tournament team.
(And please, spare the "Duke has 10 McDonald's All-Americans" argument. The same people who use that ploy are the ones who correctly point out those designations are awarded after most players make their commitments. If you don't think school choice doesn't have some influence in the Mickie D's selection process, I have some oceanfront property in Alberta to sell to you).
As for the All-America teams, it felt like there were four post players for three first team spots. Beasley and Tyler Hansbrough were locks, and I gave a slight nod to Luke Harangody over Kevin Love. That is obviously highly debatable, but both were really good. It's not a choice I'll lose sleep over.
It became really hard to differentiate players after about nine guys. The three teams are below, but I felt like I should mention a few other guys I gave a long look at before going in another direction.
* Charron Fisher, Niagara: A scoring dynamo out of the MAAC, but even I don't seriously believe two of the 15 best players in the country hail from a single mid-major league.
* Gary Forbes, Massachusetts: Joined Derrick Byars as former Virginia players from the Pete Gillen era who won conference player of the year awards at their next stops. Really a fine year from the swingman.
* Robert Vaden, UAB: The only reason the Blazers even sniffed the NCAA tournament discussion. Mike Davis has to be very happy Vaden followed him from Indiana.
* Kyle Hines, UNC Greensboro: A 6-foot-6ish tank who averaged 19.5 points and 9.1 rebounds for the Spartans.
First team
G D.J. Augustin, Texas
G Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis
F Michael Beasley, Kansas State
F Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
C Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
Second team
G Darren Collison, UCLA
G Stephen Curry, Davidson
G Jerryd Bayless, Arizona
F Shan Foster, Vanderbilt
F Kevin Love, UCLA
Third team
G Sean Singletary, Virginia
G Brandon Rush, Kansas
F Ryan Anderson, California
F Jason Thompson, Rider
F D.J. White, Indiana
--- Patrick Stevens
