Coming off a loss Tuesday night at Clemson, Virginia was looking a little shaky. Despite a 19-6 record they had fallen to 6-5 in the ACC with a dangerous Maryland team coming to Charlottesville. Frankly if the Cavs had lost Saturday that would be the NCAA bubble off in the horizon, but as he’s done all year Mike Scott carried Virginia. In this game Scott had 25 points and 7 rebounds in the impressive 71-44 victory over Maryland. The win keeps the Cavs in solid position for the NCAAs and a first round BYE in the ACC tournament.
Without Mike Scott this isn’t possible for Virginia. Without Mike Scott, UVA is probably 15-11 and not 20-6. Is there any doubt Mike Scott is your ACC player of the year? On twitter @HokieGuru, @KilroyFSU, and myself discussed this. We all agreed this is your ACC POY and probably deserves more credit than he’s getting. I don’t know what stronger endorsement of Scott you need than a Virginia Tech Hokie fan saying that.
Statistically speaking Mike Scott is third in the ACC scoring at 16.9 points a game. He’s in the top 10 in rebounding, and leads the ACC in FG percentage. Oh he’s also one of the ACC’s leading FT shooters at 81%, but Scott’s value is far more than that. Virginia is not a deep team. They haven’t been all year, but when starting center Assane Sene went down with what is now looking like a season ending ankle injury and Joe Harris suffered a broken bone in his non shooting hand you began to wonder if Virginia’s once promising season might slip away. Mike Scott wouldn’t let that happen and has literally carried the Cavaliers.
I know North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller is getting some mention as ACC POY. He’s having a great season, but he also has Harrison Barnes and John Henson there to free him up. Scott doesn’t have that luxury. He’s the defensive focus of every Virginia opponent, every game, and he still puts up the numbers he puts up. He gets no mention as National Player of the Year. He should be in the conversation. That’s a shame he’s not. Don’t agree with me then comment away, but if you don’t think he’s the ACC POY, I’d really like to know why. You can even do a fan vote for the ACC’s POY at the ACC’s official site and make your feelings known there.
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