Fredette or Moore? Who Really Is College Basketball’s Best Player?

Jimmer or Maya?  That Is the Burning Question 

There is little question that UConn’s Maya Moore and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette will soon capture their respective College Player of the Year awards for NCAA women’s and men’s basketball.  Nobody really comes close to them in terms of their impact on their teams and on the games in which they play.   Certainly, there are other players in both genders which have demonstrated excellent talent this season, but no one else has the tools and puts them to use as consistently as Maya and Jimmer.  (A smile comes over my face every time  I type his name.)

I like Jimmer Fredette.  From his quirky name to his runaround-in-circles game, what’s not to like?  He does things that a lot of college basketball players have done before his emergence.  He can score.  Duh.  He can pass.  Better than most, I’d say.  He can control a game, as can a lot of players.  So, what makes Jimmer special?  Style.  The kid’s got some serious style.  He is the most unpredictable men’s college basketball player to come along since Pete Maravich in the 1970’s.  Jimmer is fun to watch because you get the feeling that when comes down the floor  and pulls off yet another off-balance shot or no-look pass that he’s as surprised as we are when it works.  This will date me, but he is so reminiscent of the legendary Boston Celtics point guard, Bob Cousey, who made his reputation dribbling around and through NBA defenses, popping off behind-the-back passes and sinking pull-up set shots.  Yes, I said set shots, it was that long ago.  No matter, Jimmer is the top dog this year and if anybody else is given the POY trophy, we should storm the dadgum castle.

I love Maya Moore.  Jimmer is cool, but Maya is the queen bee of basketball.  Is there anything on a basketball floor this kid can’t do?  As the most recent reincarnation of the now standard UConn Ms. Everything, she follows in the rather large footsteps of Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird who could also do everything.  Maya is created a legacy which will perhaps take years to surpass.  She will win her fourth POY plaque this year after pushing, dragging and encouraging a team through a schedule the Miami Heat would dread.  As the Huskies’ undisputable leader during their 90-game winning streak, longest in NCAA history, Maya demonstrated a degree of leadership and playing skill which few college players, men or women, can be identified.  That the team would finally lose this season to a highly-motivated Stanford team in Palo Alto and then regroup and eventually regain the nation’s number one ranking is a testament to a lot of influences.  Certainly, Geno Auriemma is at the top of that list, but were it not for Maya Moore, this particular UConn team would be slugging it out with the plethora of also ran women’s teams across the landscape.

So, is it Fredette or Moore?  Drum roll, please.  I would pay good money any day to watch Jimmer get his jiggy on.  He is a fabulous show.  But when it comes right down to it, I’ll take Maya with her abilities, leadership, consistency and career.  She’s one in a million.