2011-12 NCAA Basketball awards

What a FAN-tastic NCAA season - both Men and Women... as Baylor Women broke one important, long last record of going completely undefeated... then coach John Calipari got his first National Championship, as Kentucky knocked off Kansas. So we have compiled our year-end awards featuring the top individuals and moments... Top Coach (men): Bill Self – Kansas The competition for this award was hard considering Kentucky’s John Calipari who won his first National championship, Louisville’s Rick Pitino ran strong down the stretch, Ohio State’s Thad Mata ruled the Big Ten, and middle-major favorite John Groce from Ohio University . Had the Bobcats been able to upset North Carolina in the Sweet 16 Groce probably would have been the winner. Self has earned the honor, though, by taking Kansas to their second national championship under his watch in a year where nobody expected them to be a title contender. Top Coach (women): Kim Mulkey - Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey, of Baylor, made NCAA history by leading the Lady Bears to a perfect 40-game season. This is the first for any collegiate basketball team - men or women. The season culminated at the NCAA Championship game in Denver, where the Bears defeated Notre Dame. She is also known as the first person in NCAA history to win a basketball national championship as a player, assistant coach, and head coach.

Most Outstanding Player (men): Anthony Davis – Kentucky This was easy for us to acknowledge... Chicago's very own Davis is clearly the best player on a star-studded Kentucky squad, not caring about how many shots he gets. He doesn’t need the ball to dominate a game and that’s exactly why he is our M-O-P. The 6-10, 220-pounder from Chicago also was recognized as SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year leading the  Wildcats (34-2) to an unbeaten record in SEC play (16-0) and the SEC regular-season championship. Kansas’ Thomas Robinson, runner-up, may be more valuable to his team because there’s no way they’re in the championship without him. Kentucky would be good enough to go on a run without Davis, but the drop off wouldn’t be as big as Kansas without Robinson. Women's Player of the Year: Brittney Griner - Baylor Baylor's Lady Bears superstar Brittney Griner is hands down the best Women's basketball player of the 2011-12 season. The 6-foot-8 phenom averaged 23.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5.2 blocks this season. In addition, she shot 61 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line. Statistically, Griner has accounted for an impressive 31% of the Lady Bears overall statistical production. However, it's obviously the unquantifiable defensive impact that's made Griner a truly game-changing player. She was also the first Baylor player to win the AP women's college basketball Player of the Year.   National Freshman of the Year (men): Anthony Davis – Kentucky With Anthony Davis, of the Kentucky Wildcats, being recognized as not only the best player in men's college basketball, he is without any doubt the best freshmen in the game.  His averaged 14.3 points and 10 boards per game this season. Davis has also had an incredible 4.6 blocks per game this season, which is a new school record. The only other freshman to win the award was Kevin Durant, who took home the AP Player of the Year Award in 2007 and he is the first Kentucky player to ever win the same national award and the second true freshman. National Freshman of the Year (women): Elizabeth Williams – Duke Duke's 6'3" center is our Women’s Freshman of the Year. The Virginia Beach standout led Duke to Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship and the Fresno Regional Final in the NCAA Tournament. She was also recognized as All-ACC first-team selection via her defensive and ACC rookie of the year as she led the Blue Devils (27-6) with 14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 1.5 steals and 1.6 assists per game. Williams became just the third freshman in conference history to be named to the All-ACC first team. She ranks fourth nationally with a 3.5 blocks per game and set the ACC freshman record for blocks in a season with 116. Williams also became the first freshman to be named ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Best Defender: Anthony Davis – Kentucky Louisville sophomore Gorgui Dieng and Kansas junior Jeff Withey block a fair amount of shots themselves, but there’s no discussion over who the premier defensive player in the field of 68 is. It’s definitely Davis, who has done a great job of avoiding foul trouble no matter how much team’s attack him. The only time his minutes were limited due to foul trouble was against Indiana, but he thrived in the second half as he made up for lost time. The scary thing about Davis is that he can be better defensively than he is right now. Once he adds some lower body strength opponents won’t be able to get good position against him anywhere near as easily. His lack of strength was a concern coming into the year, but has rarely been exploited. Did you see his ESPN science guy show?   Biggest Upset: Lehigh over Duke in the 2nd round Although not as upset-heavy as some of the recent tournaments, there were a few good ones this year. 15 seed Norfolk State shocked number two Missouri and Ohio beat some teams people didn’t think they could. Lehigh beating Duke tops them all, though. Duke was heavily favored and predicted to go on a serious run. They were without starting center Ryan Kelly, but even if he did play it’s not like he would have done much to slow down C.J McCollum. In similar fashion to what VCU’s Eric Maynor did against Duke in an opening-round upset in 2007, McCollum torched the Blue Devils for 30 points, six rebounds and six assists. Most Surprising Run: Ohio While the amount of respect mid major get has improved over the years, nobody was really looking at the Mid-American representative to make much noise. Ohio, who finished third behind Buffalo and Akron in the regular season, especially didn’t strike much fear. But, that’s why they play the games. Ohio rode their strong defensive play and backcourt of D.J. Cooper and Walter Offutt to the Sweet 16, where they should have eliminated the injury-depleted Tar Heels. That game was theirs for the taking, but they missed a free throw towards the end of regulation and went ice cold offensively in overtime. Still, no one was more fitting of the Cinderella tag. 1st Team All-Tournament (Men) PG: Pierre Jackson (Baylor) SG: Brad Beal (Florida) SF: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Kentucky) PF: Thomas Robinson (Kansas) C: Anthony Davis (Kentucky) 2nd Team All-Tournament (Men) PG: Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin) SG: Walter Offutt (Ohio) SF: Draymond Green (Michigan State) PF: Jared Sullinger (Ohio State) C: Tyler Zeller (North Carolina)   2011-12 All-America Team (Women) Elena Delle Donne, Delaware Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame Chelsea Gray, Duke Brittney Griner, Baylor Shenise Johnson, Miami A'dia Mathies, Kentucky Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford Samantha Prahalis, Ohio State Odyssey Sims, Baylor Alyssa Thomas, Maryland Men's All-District Teams Being a member of USBWA, we conquer with the list of nine regional districts men names. To review, click here.

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