RJ Barrett Steals Jerry West Award from Carsen Edwards

This was a blatant robbery.

Blatant.

Tonight the Hoops Hall announced it positional awards for college basketball given to the best player at each of the five positions. Carsen Edwards from Purdue not only was a finalist for the Jerry West Award (given to the nation’s best shooting guard), he was the REIGNING winner for it.

Naturally, it was given to R.J. Barrett of Duke.

Let’s face there is one reason Barrett got the award and one reason only: he played for Duke. Aside from that, ther eis not a valid excuse for what was a blatant robbery.

First off, Barrett is not a shooting guard. Duke’s official roster lists him as a forward. His Duke profile lists his as a forward. His recruiting profile lists him as a forward. His ESPN stats profile lists him as a forward. He is not a guard.

Second, just look at the numbers:

• Carsen bettered him in scoring 24.3 to 22.6.
• Carsen out-shot him from three 35.5% to 30.8%.
• Carsen hit 135 threes to his 73.
• Carsen actually won his team’s conference title, Barrett did not.
• Carsen actually played a modicum of defense (which is still part of the game) with 1.3 steals to Barrett’s 0.9.
• Carsen can actually beat Michigan State. Barrett couldn’t with better teammates.

But hey, Barrett can make fancier dunks, plays for Duke, and has a higher NBA profile. So of course he gets the award.

Purdue fans should feel slighted, and it is a familiar feeling. Just two years ago Johnathan Motley won the Karl Malone Award despite Caleb Swanigan outplaying him all season in every metric possible. Swanigan has even had the better NBA career to date.