Mid-Season Awards

[PantherSigEp]

For the whole "Nate Buss = 6th Man" talk. He injured his knee tonight and will have an MRI tomorrow. Fingers crossed but from the sound of things I'm doubting he's back on the court this season.

[sect.3purple]

I think Balentine is a real nice player but he wouldn't put up those numbers on any other team and thus his stats have to be discounted a lot.

Balentine is more than "a real nice player." Have you stopped to think that he gets the points he gets consistently, even being double and triple teamed....he is always the focus of the other team's defense, and he still gets those points...43 tonight against UNI. Other scorers aren't always being hounded by the other team...I think that makes Balentine's skills even more impressive. And, he is only a sophomore. I am hoping for his teammates to grow in skill and for UE to add a couple more shooters these next two years.

[Bradleyfan1]

I think Balentine is a real nice player but he wouldn't put up those numbers on any other team and thus his stats have to be discounted a lot.

Balentine is more than "a real nice player." Have you stopped to think that he gets the points he gets consistently, even being double and triple teamed....he is always the focus of the other team's defense, and he still gets those points...43 tonight against UNI. Other scorers aren't always being hounded by the other team...I think that makes Balentine's skills even more impressive. And, he is only a sophomore. I am hoping for his teammates to grow in skill and for UE to add a couple more shooters these next two years.

Giving Early a run for POY!

[Bradleyfan1]

- gets a lot of love from the officials too.

[PantherSigEp]

I think Balentine is a real nice player but he wouldn't put up those numbers on any other team and thus his stats have to be discounted a lot.

Balentine is more than "a real nice player." Have you stopped to think that he gets the points he gets consistently, even being double and triple teamed....he is always the focus of the other team's defense, and he still gets those points...43 tonight against UNI. Other scorers aren't always being hounded by the other team...I think that makes Balentine's skills even more impressive. And, he is only a sophomore. I am hoping for his teammates to grow in skill and for UE to add a couple more shooters these next two years.

He shot about 50% tonight. That's not anything extraordinary. What is extraordinary is that he took 20 shots in addition to 21 more from the FT line. He is a very talented player but there are other guys in this league who could consistently score 30-40 pts if they played in an offense designed entirely on getting them a shot within 10-15 seconds and were allowed 20 FT attempts on top of that.

He's a really good player. One of the better shooters in the MVC. But we've heard this song and dance with Colt Ryan. When we first saw this with him everyone thought, "HOLY COW! This kid is amazing!" but now we all realize where those numbers came from. It's all about the system and the fact that nearly everything is designed so that one guy can score.

Do you think Grinnell's Jack Taylor should play in the NBA because he has consistently scored upwards of 60 pts in his career, several times even reaching 100-120+? Heck no! He's a good player who gets an extra boost from playing in a system set up specifically for him to score. Difference being that Evansville continues to lose with this system.

[Redbird23]

We all thought Lofton would be newcomer of the year, man were we wrong

[Bradleyfan1]

We all thought Lofton would be newcomer of the year, man were we wrong

Ya whats up with that?

[Ricardo del Rio]

I like Desmar Jackson and Marshall regardless of stats.

[Wufan]

After 10 games there is a clear separation for the teams:

WSU

Indiana State

Pick-em 3-10

If this separation holds, a large percentage of the individual accolades will fall to Wichita and Terra Haute. I will be surprised if Early, VanVleet, and Odum don't make first team.

Ballentine and Jackson stat out the best, and if either of their respective teams avoid Thursday night, I would expect that the player of that team would also make first team. Play on Thursday, and it's still hard not to see them on second team.

Lemon, Carter, Doyle, Gulley, Tuttle, Thomas, Mitchell, and Baker are all coin flips at this point. I imagine some will separate themselves, and in the process, their team and will easily earn a spot. Others will slide into mediocrity. Baker has a clear advantage to making second team (but is less likely to make first team due to two team mates already there). Meanwhile, Thomas is the least likely to be awarded as Loyola looks like a Thursday night team, and Doyle is clearly their best player.

[Wufan]

While Indiana State is the currently clear second best team in the league, don't look for anyone other than Odum to be on first or second team. How do you possibly separate the Sycamore's second best player from their 5th best?

Manny Arop, 4.1 rebs 11.5 pts
Dawon Cummings 2.5 assits 11.2 pts
Khristian Smith 3.9 rebs 11.0 pts
Justin Gant 4.0 rebs 11.0 pts