Okafor nabs top honors

The tourney's over, now it's time to hand out the post-season hardware.



Player of the Year

What more can you say about Emeka Okafor? He will most likely be a top-five pick in this June's NBA draft and he deserves it. NBA coaches: Please take this player. Instead of taking a baby-faced eighteen year old with tons of "upside," how about Okafor who can contribute immediately and is as polished a player that college basketball has produced since Tim Duncan. He has blossomed into a player who can dominate the game on both offensive and defensive ends and is one of the more intelligent players in the game. There is really no more to say about him, except that he should be the number one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.



Freshman of the Year

The ACC was certainly the site for impact freshmen this year with Duke's Luol Deng and Wake Forrest's Josh Paul. Both are big time freshmen but each does completely different things. Deng, a 6'8" forward from the Sudan via Egypt and England, gave Duke another dimension with his strong inside and outside shooting, and his ability gives the Blue Devils another body upfront. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Deng is the first freshman since Johnny Dawkins, for whom he specifically tailored some plays in his offense.

Paul came in and ran the Demon Deacon offense from day one. He came in as a fan favorite, being somewhat of a townie from Winston Salem, but he completely delivered. As the year progressed, Paul became more and more confident and almost fearless at times. He is the perfect college basketball point guard with the ability to score over 20 a game, but also with the unselfishness to provide his teammates with great scoring chances for themselves. Without a doubt, next year Paul should jump into the national spotlight as one of college basketball's best players.

If forced to pick, Luol Deng had the better overall season, carrying his team to the Final Four with a tremendous performance against the Xavier Musketeers.



Story of the Year

After the Brian Dennehy murder at Baylor and the cover-up by coach Dave Bliss, the players scattered to other big time programs.

Baylor's three best players transferred and found success at their new schools. John Lucas III went on to take the Oklahoma St. Cowboys all the way to the Final Four. Forward Lawrence Roberts transferred to the Mississippi State Bulldogs. He took them to the top of the SEC and a number two seed in the NCAA Tournament. Roberts was ultimately named the SEC Player of the Year and will now test the waters in the NBA Draft after his junior year. And the third friend of the group was Kenny Taylor, who left to become the backup point guard to Royal Ivey for the Texas Longhorns. They are all still very good friends and keep in close contact throughout the season.



Dumbest Decision

This is easily Florida sophomore guard/forward Christian Dreijer's decision to leave the Gators and play professionally in Europe. The move was the final straw that ruined the Gators season and Dreijer, a likely draft pick, is unlikely to move into the lottery or up very far with this idiotic move.

Dreijer was a highly rated prospect coming into Florida but a year-full of ankle and foot problems got his freshman year off to a slow start and he never was consistent. This season, the Gators appeared to be stacked with Dreijer, Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh, and David Lee, but the team was a bust. Despite their talent level, Billy Donovan's team consistently lost to worse teams and they slipped to the bottom of the top-25.

Allegedly, Dreijer claims he was tired of the selfish, me-first mentality of the team, so he bolted for a contract in Europe right in the middle of the SEC schedule. The Gators went on to lose to the Manhattan Jaspers in a disappointing 5-12 first round match up in the NCAA Tournament.



Senior of the Year

In a time in college basketball where it's a miracle if a coach can squeeze four years of talent out of a player, I wanted to recognize a player who had a great year in his senior season. ('Cause there aren't that many of them) This would be a tie between the obvious choice of Jameer Nelson of the St. Joe's Hawks and Luke Jackson of the Oregon Ducks.

Nelson thought of leaving after his junior year to test the Draft, but pulled his name back after careful consideration. Averaging 20 points a game and leading the team at the point, Nelson engineered a 27-0 regular season -- the first undefeated regular season since the UNLV Runnin' Rebels in 1991. This impressive resume led to a number one seed for the Eagles and a trip all the way to the Elite 8.

Jackson had a little bit of a tougher season after the loss of his running mate Luke Ridnour to graduation. Despite the PAC-10 not being an incredibly tough conference this year, Oregon struggled mightily but not to the fault of Jackson. Luke led the team in scoring, rebounds, and assists, averaging 21.1, 7.3, 4.6, respectively. He also shot over 44 percent from behind the arc, emerging as one of the best pure scorers in college basketball.

Consideration also went to Big 12 Player of the Year Tony Allen of Oklahoma St and Wooden Award Finalist Chris Duhon of Duke.

Enjoy the off-season, and get ready for Midnight Madness, only eight months away.