Thoughts on MWC awards and Drca injury

Just a few thoughts on the Mountain West Conference awards announced earlier today.
Luke Nevill was the obvious choice for MVP, although I’m sure BYU fans thought Lee Cummard should have won and New Mexico fans thought Tony Danridge should have won. Nevill led the team in rebounding and blocked shots and finished in the top five in scoring, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
Nevill also won the defensive player of the year award, which was deserved, seeing how he had twice as many blocked shots as anyone else in the league and altered many others. I thought San Diego State’s Richie Williams would win because he led the league in steals and got a fair amount of publicity as a tough defender. However, I was surprised that Williams got third-team all-MWC honors. That gave San Diego State three players on the three all-MWC teams along with BYU.
Utah got just two players on the three all-MWC teams, with Lawrence Borha earning third-team honors. I voted Borha second team and Shaun Green third team. The Utes might have been hurt by having six players nominated for all-MWC. All six got votes since all received honorable mention honors, but the Utes might have split some votes because their team was so well-balanced.
A also think Jim Boylen should have been named coach of the year over New Mexico’s Steve Alford. You could argue for Alford because the Lobos were picked for fifth and the Utes fourth and the two teams ended up tied for first. However the Utes had a better overall season, which to me was the tiebreaker. I was also surprised because Alford apparently isn’t that well-liked by his fellow coaches, who also voted along with the media.

One last thing — if you wondered why point guard Luka Drca only played 17 minutes Saturday despite not being in foul trouble, it’s because he was injured. Coach Boylen revealed that Drca suffered a pulled muscle in his back, late in the first half and couldn’t play much in the second half because of spasms. Boylen said he was still sore Monday, but thinks he’ll be able to play this week. Although Drca hasn’t played well lately, the Utes will need him this weekend when depth will be a big factor on who wins the tourney.