St. Louis ? Out of all the quips and one-liners thrown out to the audience gathered for the National Association of Basketball Coaches award show Sunday night, the words of Duke forward Shelden Williams said it all regarding the distribution of player honors.
“I’d like to say thank you to Andrew for not winning one of these,” Williams joked after picking up the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Yes, the Blue Devils’ big man known as “The Landlord” did come away with a shiny statue, but pretty much all other hardware made its way back to the hotel room of Utah forward Andrew Bogut.
In the grand ballroom of the Millennium Hotel in downtown St. Louis, the 7-foot Australian continued to pick up awards like the cast and crew of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Bogut won three more Sunday: the NABC Division One Player of the Year Award, the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Award and the most prestigious honor given out on the night, the Naismith Trophy.
“You guys are putting some pressure on me — three speeches in one night,” said Bogut, a sophomore. “It’s just fun for me to sit here with these three great athletes, and, obviously, they’re the best college basketball players too.”
Those three great athletes were Duke’s J.J. Redick, Chris Paul of Wake Forest and Kansas University senior forward Wayne Simien, who has been on a whirlwind tour of postseason honors as well. The Leavenworth native arrived in St. Louis on Saturday at 5 p.m., only to be whisked away to the CBS set at the Edward Jones Dome to receive the Senior CLASS Award, presented to the nation’s top senior player.
“Yesterday really was getting in kind of late and rushing around,” Simien said before the ceremony began. “Obviously, with the Final Four tournament, the things you have to go through with make-up and interviews and cameras and all that kind of stuff. But it’s been good.
“Today’s been a little more laid back, and I have had a chance to hang out and a lot of the players and coaches that I know and who I’ve played with and against.”
As he continues to make the rounds of award shows — he’ll be in Los Angeles as one of five finalists for the equally revered Wooden Award — Simien has begun to realize how short his college days were.
“That’s just a hard core fact right there,” he said. “Once these basketball awards are over, I will have pretty much finalized my college basketball career.”
Anyone particular favorite moment?
“I won’t be able to necessarily put my finger on one,” said Simien who then quickly mentioned the decision to come back for his senior year.
“Even though we didn’t finish the way that we wanted to, I have some great memories … even the little stuff that people don’t see that I could talk about but people wouldn’t understand.”
Coincidentally, Simien and his parents, Wayne Sr. and Margaret, are staying at the same hotel where North Carolina also is staying.
Although Wayne Jr. hasn’t bumped into coach Roy Williams in person, his parents have on two occasions. The first time they crossed paths with the coach, he made sure they had tickets for the national semifinal games when he found out they didn’t have any.
Margaret Simien was quick to point out that her family has known Williams for 10 years, and that he’ll always be family friend, regardless of what transpired two years ago.
“I think what people don’t realize is that he didn’t just coach him for two years. I felt like we grew up with coach (Williams),” she said. “You just deal with it but you don’t lose your friendship.”
Wayne Simien, a first-team Associated Press All-American, still will root for his old coach in tonight’s national championship game.
“I’m rooting for North Carolina,” Simien said. “I’m not breaking it down or anything. This is one of a few times when I get to be a college basketball fan right now.”
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Stewart’s sprain: Sophomore guard Rodrick Stewart suffered a severe ankle sprain on the court last week and was wearing a boot on his foot over the weekend for protection so he would not reinjure it.
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Drive home: Self drove back from St. Louis, site of the Final Four, Sunday night. He’s expected to meet with Alex Galindo today to learn whether the freshman definitely intends to transfer. Entering the weekend, it’s believed Galindo was leaning heavily toward transferring.
6Sports video: Simien fails to win Naismith Award