The Montlake Maddies: Post Season Awards

by: Griffin Bennett and Craig Yamada

Pac-12’s official list of the Pac-12 post-season awards is out but no one actually cares about those. All anyone wants to talk about are our annual Montlake Maddies! We are the Oscars to their Emmys.

Without further ado (drum roll)….. Enjoy!

All Pac-12 First Team:

• Terrence Ross* – Washington
• Tony Wroten* – Washington
• Devoe Joseph* – Oregon
• Jorge Gutierrez* – California
• Brock Motum* – Washington State
• Jared Cunningham – Oregon State
• Solomon Hill – Arizona
• Andre Roberson – Colorado
• Kyle Fogg – Arizona
• Allen Crabbe – California

*indicates “first five” on the team

Most of these names were pretty obvious. I hate the 10 person first team format that the Pac-12 does, so I broke it down to my top 5 and then bottom 5. Motum was my last guy in the top 5 but he had an incredible year and deserves it.

We debated putting in Wilcox and Jones in over Fogg and Crabbe but I think we settled it correctly.

All Pac-12 Second Team:

• Justin Cobbs – California
• C.J. Wilcox – Washington
• Josh Owens – Stanford
• Lazeric Jones – UCLA
• E.J. Singler – Oregon

We had a late change on this list. We had Chasson Randle in over E.J. Singler and we decided to flip it at the last moment. Oregon was the better team and deserved two players in the top 15 over Stanford. Singler was a great scorer and huge part of the Ducks’ successful season.

Player of the Year:

Terrence Ross – Washington

I tried not to be biased when making this pick. Honestly. If there was one player that you could have off of any team, I think it would be Terrence Ross. I thought that player was Jorge Gutierrez until the last three weeks where his output slowed down.

Ross was top 5 in rebounds, top 6 in scoring, and top 5 in FG% by guards during the season. While he didn’t even lead his own team in scoring, everyone can agree that he was the most important player on the team.

In my mind, he won this award by default due to the lack of other candidates. Gutierrez fell apart late, Cunningham and Motum play for a teams in the bottom half of the conference. Wroten wasn’t the best player on this own team and Devoe Joseph is great but is only one dimensional. He can score at a high rate but gets under 4 rebounds and under 3 assists per game. He also was 33rd in the conference in free throws attempted, as well.

Freshman of the Year:

Tony Wroten – Washington

This is the biggest lock of the season. Wroten was a top five player and easily deserves this award. The only other candidate was Stanford’s Chasson Randle.

Defensive Player of the Year:

Andre Roberson – Colorado

He led the league in rebounding which is usually the key factor as to who wins this award. Add that to the fact that he led the league in blocked shots and you have your reason as to why he wins this award. He was a huge reason why Colorado exceeded expectations this season. Other candidates were Jared Cunningham, Solomon Hill, Jorge Gutierrez, Marcus Capers,.

Most Improved Player:

Terrence Ross – Washington

Ross is greatly improved from last season. He didn’t even make the Pac-12 All Freshman team last season and is now the Player of the Year.

2010/11: 17 mpg, 8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, .443 FG%, .352 3P%.

2011/12: 31 mpg, 15.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, .454 FG%, .363 3P%.

Other candidates: Brock Motum, Andre Roberson.

Coach of the Year:

Lorenzo Romar – Washington

This is a tough one and Ryan Divish made my argument for me last week. While Colorado fans will be the first to tell you that they lost 75% of their scoring from last year as well as predicted to finish 10th this year, the Huskies lost 68% of their scoring from last year (Thomas, MBA, Holiday, Suggs, Overton) and still managed to win the league after being predicted to finish 4th.

Romar took a team that has the 293rd most experienced team in the nation (11th in Pac-12 via KenPom.com). The goal of every coach and team is to win their league. Only one coach accomplished this feat; Lorezno Romar.

All Pac-12 Freshmen Team:

• Tony Wroten – Washington
• Chasson Randle – Stanford
• Spencer Dinwiddie – Colorado
• David Kravish – California
• Nick Johnson – Arizona

I debated putting in DaVonte Lacy over Kravish but the Golden Bear had very impressive year in the post for a great team. Others to mention would be Askia Booker of CU, and Jonathan Gilling of ASU.

All Pac-12 Defensive Team:

• Jorge Gutierrez – California
• Jared Cunningham – Oregon State
• Andre Roberson – Colorado
• Kyle Fogg – Arizona
• Marcus Capers – Washington State

This list was the toughest of the day. I like to have a balance between the players with the best numbers versus the players with the best “reps”. Roberson and Cunningham have the numbers to justify spots on this list while guys like Capers, Fogg, and Gutierrez have the reputation as being the toughest match ups in the league.

There you have it! Please leave us your comments below and we welcome all debates. Thanks!