The Mid-American Conference has announced some of its regular season awards over the past two days. Through official releases they named the All-MAC and All-Freshman teams on Monday, as well as naming the defensive player of the year, sixth-man of the year and freshman of the year awards.
First up are the All-MAC teams, all three of them.
| D.J. Cooper, Ohio |
| Rian Pearson, Toledo |
| Chris Evans, Kent State |
| Javon McCrea, Buffalo |
| Zeke Marshall, Akron |
| Jauwan Scaife, Ball State |
|
Kyle Randall, Central Michigan |
| A'uston Calhoun, Bowling Green |
| Demetrius Treadwell, Akron |
| Shayne Whittington, Western Michigan |
| Randal Holt, Kent State |
| Walter Offutt, Ohio |
| Julius Brown, Toledo |
| Reggie Keely, Ohio |
| Majok Majok, Ball State |
Interesting things to note here.
First: Majok², the only player to earn a double-double this season in the MAC; the guy who lead the conference in rebounding and was in the top-25 in points-per-game and top-10 in field goal percentage is a third team selection. Now granted Chris Evans and Javon McCrea are outstanding forwards and more deserving of first team honors than the doubly-named phenom, but a third team selection seems like a slap in the face. Thankfully he mad First-Team All-Hustlebelt over the weekend, we all know that's a more important accolade, right?
Second: In a incredibly down year for the MAC-West division, only one player, from an ineligible team none the less, made All-MAC First Team. It seems even the conference itself can't deny it, the MAC-East Division is far superior this season.
Third: Alex Abreu picked up honorable mention "honors" despite finishing with the second most assists-per-game in the conference. Think his recent spurt of negative publicity had any thing to do with that?
Now on to the freshmen.
| Jarryn Skeete, Buffalo |
|
Central Michigan |
| Jake Kretzer, Akron |
| Darius Paul, Western Michigan |
| Nathan Boothe, Toledo |
No surprises here, all are deserving of the honors.
Now onto the awards announced Tuesday morning, the defensive player of the year, sixth man of the year and freshman of the year honors.
| Defensive Player of the Year | Sixth Man of the Year | Freshman of the Year |
| Zeke Marshall, Akron | David Brown, Western Michigan | Darius Paul, Western Michigan |
Again no surprises here. With 3.4 blocks-per-game Zeke Marshall, who also won the award last year, was the obvious choice. David Brown has been an offensive force off the bench for the Broncos and Darius Paul has had an excellent freshman season. He currently leads all frosh in points-per-game and rebounds-per-game.
The big awards, player of the year and coach of the year, will be announced tomorrow. According to this highly accurate poll of HustleBelt.com insiders, the smart money is on Ohio's D.J. Cooper to take home the player of the year honors. While Akron's Keith Dambrot or Ohio's Jim Christian are likely to bring home coach of the year.