As you’ve probably seen by now, the ACC released it’s 2006 All-ACC Basketball teams today. The list is pretty solid and looks pretty close to what I expected.
I hope they don’t mind, but I’m going to steal the table from the ACC website:
The first team is fairly non-controversial. Any idiot with a pair of eyes could see that J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams and Tyler Hansbrough needed to be on the first team. Craig Smith was a pretty obvious choice as well, although he didn’t have the kind of season that many people expected. The one player that could be debated is Sean Singletary. As a Virginia fan, it’s great to see the first Cav on there in fourteen years (Bryant Stith in 1992 was the last Virginia player on the first team), but I’m not convinced that I would have voted him on. His measurable numbers don’t quite hold up compared to guys like Jared Dudley or Al Thornton. Also, while Singletary is clearly the best point guard in the league, he does turn the ball over a lot and takes a lot of bad shots. Of course, he’s often forced to try difficult plays because there simply aren’t many other options on that offense. Also, it’s often hard to accurately measure a point guard’s impact on the team. Assists don’t tell the whole story, particularly with a guy like Singletary whose toughness set a tone for Virginia all year. It was like he personally refused to be a basement-dwelling team. He never played like a player on a bad team and he never seemed surprised by his success. I think I’m talking myself into 100% agreement with his inclusion!
It’s always interesting to look closely at the votes to see how guys were regarded relative to each other. The one player who it appears was most undervalued was Jared Dudley. For a good part of the season, he, not Craig Smith was the best player on that BC team and his numbers reflect that. They are very similar to Smith’s and it is Dudley who is the heart and soul of that squad. Maybe he lost points for that hair. And he should have.
On the flip side, I think a lot of voters forgot to actually watch Wake Forest play this year (although that can be understood). There’s no other explanation for having Justin Gray so high. I love the guy, but he had an awful year. Yeah, he scored 18 ppg, but he shot under 38% from the floor! And he had basically a 1:1 assists-to-turnovers ratio. When I get my updated Prouty numbers out later this week, you’ll see that his efficiency ratings don’t justify his making even the third team, and that doesn’t even take into account his lack of leadership on a team sorely needing direction.
I wish they still published the whole list of players who got votes. It’s always fun to see who some guys vote for. I wonder how many votes Jason Cain picked up?
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