James Anderson chips (blue and potato)
Published: 2/22/2010 6:42 PM
Last Modified: 2/22/2010 6:42 PM
Oklahoma State’s James Anderson, a former McDonald’s All-American, once was a blue-chip recruit. Now he’s being mentioned in the same sentence with another kind of chip -- the potato kind.
OSU coach Travis Ford was asked Monday what it will take for Anderson to gain more national respect. Ford has campaigned on multiple occasions for Anderson to be a national player of the year candidate. But Ford’s response to the “what-will-it-take” question made me laugh a little bit.
“It’s just going to take people who have a voice in it to maybe watch a little tape and not sit at home and eat potato chips all night, or whatever they are doing,” Ford said.
“Watch tape and study the game. Don’t just watch one conference. Watch everything. Watch (all the conferences) and figure out who the best player in the country is. It’s not hard to figure out if you watch our team and what he does for our team. Am I saying if he is the best player in the country? I don’t know if he’s the No. 1 best player in the country, but I think he definitely could be, absolutely. I would vote him No. 1, but for him to not be mentioned in some (national player of the year) polls is just an absolute absurdity. It’s absolutely insane and shows the lack of knowledge of people when they don’t see what he is doing.”
Anderson got one vote in a national player of the year straw poll conducted by AnnArbor.com's Michael Rothstein.
Media folks who participated in the straw poll each listed three players on their ballots. Among 49 poll participants, the only person who put Anderson on a ballot was yours truly. Coincidentally, I also ate a few potato chips (barbecue!) before writing this blog, proving that not all potato chip-eaters are oblivious to Anderson’s accomplishments.
OSU will play nationally televised games against Texas and Kansas this week, giving Anderson a stage to perhaps elevate his stock.
“For 26 games, he has been one of the best players in the country, easily,” Ford said. “So I don’t think it all boils down to just these two games. If he plays great in these two games, no question (he can help himself). If he happens to not play so well, no, I don’t think that has anything to do with it whatsoever. He has proven that night-in and night-out that he is one of the best players on our team and he is extremely important.”
Anderson ranks first in the Big 12 and fourth nationally in scoring. Ford said Monday that Anderson is an across-the-board contributor (on both ends of the court) and not just a scorer. Ford also credited Anderson for helping the league’s youngest team win 19 games.
“I don’t know what else a guy could do,” Ford said. “He is a special player. They don’t come around every day like James. If everybody knew what I knew about him as a person, and what a great player he was, he would have already been named player of the year, easily, in the country. It’s amazing what a great person he is compared to what a great player he is.”
P.S.: Here's a link to the most recent AnnArbor.com straw poll:
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-basketball/ohio-states-evan-turner-rises-to-top-of-player-of-year-poll/
--Jimmie Tramel.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
