Big East Oscar Awards

by Doug Potter

The Big East, much like the rest of college basketball, certainly has its share of head-scratching games, game-changing performances, and wonderful coaching.  No matter what the conference always gives us topics to talk about.  Whether it’s a big upcoming game, utterly disappointing teams, or how solid it is from one through ten (sorry Georgetown, you’re just not NCAA Tourney material coughNITcough), we always find something intriguing about this now all of a sudden top-heavy conference.  With the Oscars taking place this past Sunday, we’re all in the spirit of giving out awards.  Here are my Oscar awards for the Big East this season:

Best Motion Picture:  This has to go to Georgetown @ Syracuse on Feb 14^th.  The Orange escaped with a 98-94 OT win, but blew a 13 point lead with under seven minutes left.  This game saw little to no defense.  Don’t believe me?  The two teams combined for 101 points in the second half alone.  Jonny Flynn had a good game for the Orange as he dropped 25 and was an impressive 15 of 16 from the FT line.  Chris Wright had 25 of his own for Georgetown, who was just 13-10 at the time after starting the season 10-1.  Listen to this stat: Yes Georgetown is young and inexperienced, but it’s almost March and the Hoyas have won just four (4) games in ’09!  Come on!

Best Actor in a Lead Role:  I firmly believe that Luke Harangody is the best player in the conference. Period.  But as Stephen A. Smith would say; However!  We live in an era where MVP’s and in this case “Best Lead Actors” come from teams who have had a lot of success.  That being said, this award goes to DeJuan Blair.  The 6 foot 7 forward, yes I know he plays much bigger than that, is simply a man-child down low and is hands down the best offensive rebounder in the nation (5.9 off RPG).  The main reason for my selection is the Panthers record of 25-3 despite a disappointing loss to Providence this week.  Interestingly enough, two if their three losses are when they were No. 1 in the nation (2-2).  Keep them at number 2 for gosh sakes!

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:  This award is more of a prediction of things to come.  With everyone talking about the monster Hasheem Thabeet and now the injury to Jerome Dyson, people are forgetting the solid guard play of A.J. Price.  The time to shine is now for Price, who is only averaging 12.3 PPG this year, but his scoring has gone up as his team has counted on him more (17.2 PPG last 12 games) and has scored in double-digits in eleven of his last twelve games.  Last night in their big showdown at Marquette he had a career high 36 points and although Dominic James suffered a broken bone in his foot, Jerel McNeal nearly had a similar fate as he took a seat when he faced a Price crossover followed by a clutch jumper.  If Connecticut is to make it deep into their postseason tournaments, they will lean heavily on Mr. Price’s shoulders.

Best Director:  Rick Pitino has led his Louisville Cardinals to become one of the nation’s hottest teams.  They have won 13 out of 15 after starting a woeful 8-3.  Just to give you some perspective, compared to Georgetown’s 4 wins in ’09, Louisville has 14 wins this year!  They don’t do it by offense alone as they have the third toughest defense to score on in the Big East (61.6 PPG).  After losing David Padgett, their lack of leadership showed early in the year, but Pitino regrouped his players and now has his team playing at an elite level and a legitimate final four contender.