Andy had a great idea the other day of having the Hammer & Rails staff select its own Big Ten All-Conference and Player of the year teams. It was a heck of an idea, but stupid life, jobs, and families got in the way of publishing it...
...Until now!
Because of a harsh deadline now (Everything will officially be revealed in an hour) Here are the selections as voted upon by myself, John, Keith, and Andy. Jordan abstained, courteously, but he's lazy anyway (j/k). Follow me after the jump.
Player of the Year: JaJuan Johnson (4 votes) - It's unanimous, but not groundbreaking that a Purdue blog would select JJ as Player of the Year.
All-Conference 1st Team: Johnson, E`Twaun Moore, Jon Leuer (all four votes), Jordan Taylor, Jared Sullinger (3 1st team votes each) - Talor Battle and William Buford each received a 1st team vote here, with Sullinger getting second team by Keith in favor of Buford and Andy not naming a second team.
All-Conference 2nd Team: Kalin Lucas, Trevor Mbakwe (3 votes each), Battle (Two 2nd team and a 1st team), Jon Diebler, David Lighty (two votes each) - Pretty straightforward here, as again, Andy didn't name a second team. Also receiving votes (and thus honorable mention) were Jon Shurna, Demetri McCamey, and Mike Tisdale (possibly while high).
All-Freshman team: Aaron Craft, Jared Sullinger (3 votes), Jereme Richmond, Terone Johnson (2 votes) - again, Andy did not name a freshman team, so all hell broke loose after the top three. Since I am the manager here I will name Melsahn Basabe and Tim Hardaway, Jr. as the last two members since they were on my ballot. I had JerShon Cobb instead of TJ, while Jordan Morgan received a vote from Keith and Victor Oladipo received a vote from John. I should also note that John is a card-carrying communist and is currently enrolled at Indiana University, so let's all point and laugh at him.
Defensive Player of the Year: I voted for Lewis Jackson, Keith voted for Craft, and John voted for Lighty. Andy abstained, so everybody wins!
Coach of the Year: Matt Painter (4 votes) - Don't act surprised
Most Improved: Ryne Smith, Darius Morris - Only Keith and I voted for this, and my choice was Ryno.
Biggest flop: Mike Tisdale - Keith and I agree on this one, though he prefers Delvon Roe. Korie Luscious could apply too.