Official WCC All-Conference Team

No Pilots this year... sad, but not surprising:

Player of the Year: Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga) 11.9 ppg/6.2 assists/game
Newcomer of the Year: Patty Mills (St. Mary’s) 14.4 ppg/3.5 assists/game
Coach(es) of the Year: Randy Bennett (St. Mary’s) & Mark Few (Gonzaga)
Defensive Player of the Year: Diamon Simpson (St. Mary’s)

First Team
Jeremy Pargo (Gonzaga)
Matt Bouldin (Gonzaga) 13.1 ppg
David Pendergraft (Gonzaga) 9.2 ppg
Brandon Johnson (San Diego) 16.8 ppg
Gyno Pomare (San Diego) 13.8 ppg/7.3 rpg
Patrick Mills (St. Mary’s)
Diamon Simpson (St. Mary’s) 13.5 ppg/9.5 rpg
Dior Lowhorn (USF) 20.7 ppg/7/4 rpg
John Bryant (Santa Clara) 18.0 ppg/9.5 rpg
Brody Angley (Santa Clara) 11.6 ppg/5.3 assists per game

All Freshman Team:
Patrick Mills (St. Mary’s)
Austin Daye (Gonzaga) 11.1 ppg
Rob Jones (San Diego) 8.4 ppg/5.4 rpg
Malcolm Thomas (Pepperdine) 12.6 ppg/8.8 rpg
Steven Grey (Gonzaga) 7.2 ppg

Thanks to DonsCentral for putting up all the stats.

http://members4.boardhost.com/donscentral/msg/1204664425.html

Two major problems in my mind, and of course... they both involve GU.

#1 and most obvious is Pendergraft on the 1st team. In my mind, this is just a career award, kind of like how Darren Cooper got it over Antonio Kellogg of USF last year. I don't agree with Pendergraft making it, but I suppose I can understand it. Still, Cooper always put up way better numbers than Pendergraft - he was well over 10+ a game for three years. Pendergraft? Never averaged over 10 once. I guess he's just the type of player that coaches love... would have prefered Samhan, Austin Daye (way more deserving I think), Malcolm Thomas, Tyrone Shelley, Nik Raivio... the list goes on.

#2 is Grey getting on the freshman team over Orlando Johnson of LMU. Johnson was far and away LMU's best player and he put up huge numbers for a freshman that was the primary focus of other teams' defense. Yeah, LMU sucked, but Johnson was legit and played way more minutes and scored way more points than Grey. Definitely don't agree with that one either.

Pargo was the best player on the best team... yeah, Bryant probably deserved it, but I'm numb to the fact POY's come from top teams. It happens in every sport at every level.

As for Mills as the NOY... clearly there is a case for Lowhorn and I would have had no problem had he won it, but Mills did bring SMC to a whole new level this year. Without him, SMC probably doesn't sniff a ranking. With him, they were top 25 most of the year. Again, Lowhorn was deserving, but so was Mills. It's a tough call, and in the end all the W's helped Patty I'm sure.