Congratulations to this young man. Dambrot edged the Ball State coach for COY

I thought the order was fair. Dambrot was due for one, and BallS was a dumpster fire last year and a solid team this year. Saul in third makes sense. Whoever voted for Sendy should lose privileges.

Hard work work, Congratulations

Agreed on the Sendy vote. Dambrot, Saul, Whitford all equally deserving.

Wow. Congratulations Tony! This fan also thanks you for all of your hard work and great play.

OU OH YEAH

Yes! Congrats!

Congrats to Tony! He has improved so much under Saul and his play this year was spectacular. In several games he just totally dominated the opponent.

In terms of COY, this award seems to me is always so political. If you really look at coaching and improvement due to coaching, it would not routinely go to a team with an outstanding record. It seems to me that more often than not it goes to the coach of a championship team or a top contender. But, I don't think it should be that way.

Let me give you two examples from another sport to illustrate what I think should be the criteria for COY in all sports. First an example of where my criteria were not applied and another one where they were. In 1971 Coach Jack Lengyel as the coach of the Marshall football team won two games with the Young Herd (first year after the crash). That makeshift team -- made up of some holdovers, the previous year's freshmen team, and a hodgepodge of transfers -- was destined to go 0-10. In my mind, those two wins were the result of outstanding coaching. Things went downhill after that for Lengyel, but that's another story and not relevant to the 1971 season. Now, fast forward to 2012 and Bill O'Brien is named B1G and ESPN National Coach of the Year. I think those awards were well deserved for O'Brien, but it's clear PSU in 2012 had a stronger "political hand" than Marshall in 1971. OK, the rant is over. But, this is why I never put much stock in the vast majority of COY selections.

Tony separated himself from other candidates for this award because of his ability to shoot the three. I love his baby hooks and rebounding and they were crucial, but IMO it was his proficiency from deep that won him POY. I just hope that people remember this and don't whine about a big man "knowing his place" whenever we have a big shooting from distance.

I think he found his "place" more later in the season. Timing/Right Opportunity in the game flow for those 3 attempts. Fantastic to have that deep threat option w/the big - just has to be a "smart" 3 attempt. The "team "O" BBall IQ and Execution has improved through the season - and Tone was key to that, as well as Simmons. How many, "proficiency" from deep, within total context of all metrics, including wins, to me is what put him over the top.

Well deserved. I am pretty much amazed the voters saw the "big picture" and gave him the accolade!

Yup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-American_Conference_Men...