Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook

[Da Coach]

The 2010-2011 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is out-

The pick Wichita State to win the MVC, followed by Missouri State and UNI.
Their Player of the Year for the MVC is Kenny Lawson of Creighton.
Their first team All-MVC picks are: Taylor Brown of Bradley, Kenny Lawson (CU), Colt Ryan (Evansville), Toure Murry (Wichita State), and Kyle Weems (Missouri State).

[houstontxbrave]

I just do not get the fasincation with Colt Ryan, he is a nice player in a very bad program. He is going to score a lot because well they have no one else to shoot the ball.

If everything is equal and SM plays like he has, he is a certain 1st team player. I am not going to be surprised to see SM contend for Player of the Year.

If he does what he has done he is a better player then Ryan and there isnt a player on that list other then Lawson I take over SM.

[tornado]

I just do not get the fasincation with Colt Ryan, he is a nice player in a very bad program. He is going to score a lot because well they have no one else to shoot the ball.

If everything is equal and SM plays like he has, he is a certain 1st team player. I am not going to be surprised to see SM contend for Player of the Year.

If he does what he has done he is a better player then Ryan and there isnt a player on that list other then Lawson I take over SM.

nice player but scored 435 points on 364 shots taken - 1.195 points per shot taken
Not only did almost every other player on his own team have a better average of points per shot taken....so did almost every other player in the Valley!
Haarsma 1.364, Holmes 1.245, Cox 1.223, Hopf 1.377, Van Tongeren 1.265...

BUT -- if you look at BU's stats, we didn't have a single key player whose shots required to produce points was as bad as Colt Ryan's!
In other words....had any of BU's guys launched as many shots as Colt Ryan did, they may have had superior scoring averages!

Warren - 1.261
Brown - 1.294
Maniscalco - 1.509 (Sammy's productivity per shot was more than 25% better than Ryan's!)
Roberts - 1.272
Dunson - 1.250
Egolf - 1.204

[toddgak]

I dont think Colt Ryan is a first team player. But calling him a "ball hog" seems kind of harsh. Sometimes when your team is really bad, as Evansville's was, your best player/players have to force some shots. That's kind of how the game works. Sometimes those aren't the highest percentage shots but it certainly beats a bad player taking a shot.

Again, Im not advocating Colt Ryan for all-MVC. But Im not going to call him a selfish ball hog--like kids do on the 4th grade playground. Im guessing Ryan takes those shots because his head coach wants him too.

If there were better players around Ryan you would see his shot % go down and his points per shot % go up. But, right now, I think for Marty and Evansville a "bad shot" for Colt Ryan is better than an average shot for some of the other guys.

I remember when Curtis Stuckey played at Bradley. It was much the same. He needed to take a ton of shots--many of them questionable because he was the best offensive option.

[Da Coach]

Colt Ryan will be one of the MVC players who will get a lot of media attention this year, and the MVC will encourage and foster that. He is a good player, and I suspect all other 9 MVC coaches would love to have him. Evansville will be bad, and with all their losses, they will struggle to score, thus Ryan will probably get an even higher percentage of his team's shots. He will probably raise his scoring average and lead the MVC in scoring this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he is the MVC scoring leader the next 3 years, but he'll never win POY unless UE makes a big turnaround in talent.

[toddgak]

Colt Ryan will be one of the MVC players who will get a lot of media attention this year, and the MVC will encourage and foster that. He is a good player, and I suspect all other 9 MVC coaches would love to have him. Evansville will be bad, and with all their losses, they will struggle to score, thus Ryan will probably get an even higher percentage of his team's shots. He will probably raise his scoring average and lead the MVC in scoring this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he is the MVC scoring leader the next 3 years, but he'll never win POY unless UE makes a big turnaround in talent.

Agreed. He is a very good player on a very bad team. Stinks for him. But as a result he has to shoot a ton.

[tornado]

and I said just that -- read again -- he is a nice player.......
but his own coach likened him to Larry Bird and hinted he was going to give the kid the green light to shoot at will...
and in the few times I saw him play, indeed he did force a few shots and take shots quite early in the shot clock even before any attempt to fed the post or even look down low.......

[toddgak]

and I said just that -- read again -- he is a nice player.......
but his own coach likened him to Larry Bird and hinted he was going to give the kid the green light to shoot at will...
and in the few times I saw him play, indeed he did force a few shots and take shots quite early in the shot clock even before any attempt to fed the post or even look down low.......

I applaud you for taking out the ball hog reference--that seemed like a personal shot to the kid. He is only doing what he is told.

I think we all agree. Nice player. Would be nice to have. But not an elite level guy in the MVC.

[shaunguth]

Is Bradley picked 5th like they seem to be everywhere else?

[Da Coach]

I think that is what I recall, though I do not have the article to refer to now.