The Holy Land of Hoops

Just something for message board fodder that a buddy and I were debating. If Doug McDermott were to win the national POY award and become a 3 time All-American, where would he rank in the pantheon of Big East greats? His argument is that he won't be an All-American this year because of the step up in competition.

It's been a long time since the league had a NPOY so it would be great to see, but it's a tricky question because 2 of his 3 AA years were outside the Big East. In your opinion would he be up there with Ewing and Mullin? Next tier down or not at all?

Make it to the final four, then pretty high.
Fizzle out in he first weekend, then no higher than say Ryan Gomes or Otto Porter.

ArmyVet wrote:Just something for message board fodder that a buddy and I were debating. If Doug McDermott were to win the national POY award and become a 3 time All-American, where would he rank in the pantheon of Big East greats? His argument is that he won't be an All-American this year because of the step up in competition.

It's been a long time since the league had a NPOY so it would be great to see, but it's a tricky question because 2 of his 3 AA years were outside the Big East. In your opinion would he be up there with Ewing and Mullin? Next tier down or not at all?

Ewing? You mean how does he compare to one of the greatest college basketball players ever. He doesn't. Ewing went to 3 Final Fours in 4 years. Won a championship and was the face of a program that scared that crap out of everyone.

McDermott would need to win NPOY, and win a championship, and basically just own everyone all year long and then he could be like Melo, a player who had one excellent Big East season.

For me when I was going through school, I got to see great players like dikembe mutumbo, Alonzo mourning, malik sealy, terry dehere, ray allen, allen Iverson, bill curly, Kerry kittles and many others. For me going down in BE lore was what they did over the course of their college career, not what they did in 1 year. Unless he pulls a kemba walker, then he may not go down in BE lore but he would be considered one of the best college basketball players of our time.

He'd have to be very high...how many BE NPOY have there ever been?

TheHall wrote:He'd have to be very high...how many BE NPOY have there ever been?

Kenyon Martin won in 99-00 but Cincinnati was still in CUSA. Walter Berry in 85-86 was the last from the Big East to win I think. Ewing and Mullin both won various award the year prior.

Quite obviously pre Big East but David West was the AP and National Basketball Writers National Player of the year at X.

Not sure about who won the award (aren't there like 5 of these things), but

Emeka Okafor was the best player in 2004
Donyell Marshall was the best player but I think Big Dog Robinson from Purdue won.

There was that year with Iverson, Ray Allen and Kerry Kittles.
I still think Randy Foye should have won it in 2006, but JJ Reddick and Adam Morrison were more publicized.
Obviously Carmelo and Kemba Walker had those great years.

Going further back, you had Coleman, Alonzo, Motumbo, Ewing.

I am more impressed with NCAA Tournament most outstanding player. I am not sure how many each school has. Ewing? Rip Hamilton? Kemba? Carmelo? Okafor? Pinkney (Villanova)? Howard Porter (Villanova)?

It will be tough for McDermott, even with a national POY, to even surpass seasons like Billy Donovan in 1987 without a deep tourney run.

Big East Players to win a NPOY Award:

1985 - Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) & Chris Mullin (St. John's)
1986 - Walter Berry (St. John's)
1996 - Ray Allen (UConn)
2004 - Emeka Okafor (UConn)
2013 - Otto Porter (Georgetown)

Players from Big East Schools to win NPOY Award when School was not a member of the Big East:

1944-45 - George Mikan (DePaul)
1950 - Paul Arizin (Villanova)
1978 - Butch Lee (Marquette)
1980 - Mark Aguirre (DePaul)
2003 - David West (Xavier)

Players from former Big East Schools to win a NPOY Award:

1927 - Vic Hanson (Syracuse)
1930 - Chuck Hyatt (Pitt)
1936 - John Moir (Notre Dame)
1959-60 - Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati)
1962 - Paul Hogue (Cincinnati)
1971 - Austin Carr (Notre Dame)
1976 - Adrian Dantley (Notre Dame)
1980 - Darrell Griffith (Louisville)
2000 - Kenyon Martin (Cincinnati)

Bill Marsh wrote:Big East Players to win a NPOY Award:

1985 - Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) & Chris Mullin (St. John's)
1986 - Walter Berry (St. John's)
1996 - Ray Allen (UConn)
2004 - Emeka Okafor (UConn)
2013 - Otto Porter (Georgetown)

This is misleading as Allen, Okafor, and Porter didn't win any of the major recognized awards (Naismith, AP, Wooden). Not sure which ones they did win.