Big 12 basketball: Pullen for player of the year

Sorry for the delay in bloggins. Strange couple of days, including a drive to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament.

The Big 12 basketball awards are out. My thoughts:

* I would have voted for Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen, not Kansas’ Marcus Morris, for player of the year. Morris is a wonderful player. But Pullen’s value cannot be overstated. He rescued a team on the brink of collapse after a 2-5 Big 12 start. The Wildcats went 8-1 down the stretch, losing only at Colorado, when a game-winning 3-pointer was overruled by replay review.

during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Feb. 14, 2011, in Manhattan, Kan. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

* I like Bill Self for coach of the year. The only other candidates are KSU’s Frank Martin and Colorado’s Tad Boyle. If you credit Pullen for the K-State revival, which I do, then you can’t get too excited about doing the same thing for Martin. He helped create the initial mess. Boyle got the Buffaloes to a No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.