Comments on: The Naismith Winner Is…

By: Austin Burton

Austin Burton — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:02:15 +0000

If you can’t see the racial element here, I don’t know what to say to you at this point. Why do you think Brett Favre’s retirement/swan song season got 1,000 times more coverage than Emmitt Smith’s retirement/swan song? Forget that Emmitt was a more accomplished football player (all-time rushing champ, 3 Super Bowl rings) than Favre, I don’t recall any Sportscenter Specials when he hung up his cleats.

Anyway, like I said before, this isn’t the Hard Work Award, it’s the Player of the Year Award. Sherron Collins was busting his ass in the national title game last night, but I don’t think that means he should have gotten MVP.

By: Janeknows

Janeknows — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:07:05 +0000

I can’t believe that everyone wants to use the race card even in this award. Tyler works harder off the court than anyone in basketball, then someone says that he doesn’t deserve his awards. He had a team full of talent and he still shined, he was not the only thing in sight that could dribble all the way down the court with either hand, of course he would stand out. Tell him to stay around for a couple more years and earn his rewards and the rest of you quit trying to put race in somewhere that it has no place being. Don’t go there and no one else will.

By: doc

doc — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:19:14 +0000

They burned Beasley.Dave what tougher comp did Psyco T play.Duke wasnt shit and that was the only good team.Thats not top heavy.Kansas and Texas would’ve ran away with the ACC this year.Not to mention Beasley might have won the shit himself.

By: karan

karan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:40:53 +0000

“cameras on his pretty face”
“cheerleaders oohing and aahing…”
andrew, you almost sound jealous of tyler

By: Dre

Dre — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:54:05 +0000

True… he can run though… he is on a running team… he had a couple of nice 360s on the break this year and put backs. Now he has no damn rhythm at all… so he needs to stick with ballin.

By: yallallreadyknow

yallallreadyknow — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:47:27 +0000

it’ll always go to the white boy at a big program
im surprised josh mcroberts aint win it one year
austin, stop sucking on beasley cause he black and dont discredit tyler cause he white
beasley has athletic ability, tyler can barely run; did you see his reaction running down the court in the acc conference tourney game against virginia? duffy and guffy

it could have gone either way; cant hate the choice. you either pick A or B; no real wrong answer

…and even if race was a factor; so what?

By: Dre

Dre — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:37:23 +0000

I forgot to mention 17 pts against Mizz and 5pts against Xavier in 32 min. I’m not sure if Hansbrough has scored that low in 3 years of college. So to the author we all can play the low point game and point to low points by any player… that is kind of ridiculous.

By: Dre

Dre — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:29:50 +0000

The Big 12 is really not that good of a basketball conference. ACC was top heavy, but the majority of the teams kicked but in their out of conference schedule. Yes Beasley beat Kansas but look at the teams they lost to. The Beast would have been very deserving of the award, and I personally would not have had a problem with it but to say that Hansbrough getting it is a jip is just plain ignorant. The dude put up numbers against better competition night in and night out period. Hansbrough works hard during the games and in practice. When the coach gives the team the day off, he doesn’t take off… he goes and lifts and then puts up 200-300 jumpers. He has been doing his thing for 3 years and has been getting double teamed since his freshman year and look at his points… look at the records he has broken… the 3 point plays and the free throws. Say what you want be he is a worthy choice.

Those who say that he will be in Europe are emotion driven and don’t know basketball. He won’t be a superstar but with his work ethic I seem him being like Linas Klieza of Denver and at the very very least like Eduardo N. of Denver.

By: foscheezeeee

foscheezeeee — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:00:08 +0000

Austin hit it right on the head. Big XII was tougher this year in my opinion….Also right about this being the “Player of the Year” Award and not some award for the hard working hustler award. I hate to say race played an issue, but Austin might be right. I think this is something that needs to be corrected, but I don’t think it will be.

By: Austin Burton

Austin Burton — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:30:48 +0000

If you don’t think race played a factor here, you’re being real naive.

@Dre — If anything, it was the ACC that had a down year: Duke took 2nd place but they weren’t the “Duke” we’ve known over the years. Maryland, Georgia Tech, NC State, Boston College, Wake Forest … all usually-solid ACC teams that weren’t good this year.
Meanwhile in the Big XII, Kansas is in the national championship game, Texas was a stronger #2-seed than Duke, Oklahoma was good, Baylor was good and Texas A%M was good. At worst, I’d say the two conferences were equally as strong, but I honestly think the Big XII was better. When you say, “He got double and triple teamed every night, by better teams, in a better conference and he still had sick averages,” you might as well be talking about Beasley.
And just because Hansbrough is more kinetic on the court, you don’t know that Beasley doesn’t work as hard or harder. Everyone I spoke to while writing the Beasley cover story said all he does is spend time at the gym working on his game. And like he said, “I practice hard to make it look easy.” Besides, this is the Hard Work Award; it’s the Player of the Year.
You saw how Hansbrough got taken out by Kansas; Beasley was getting doubled and tripled against KU, adjusted his game and still got his points, and led an inferior team to a win when they first played in Manhattan.
Also, once Beasley put up those numbers in the first few games, you know he was getting everyone’s best shot. It’s not like he was a secret beyond Thanksgiving.