Column: My All-Missouri Valley selections

MBB: This was way harder than I expected it to be

Drake’s Tucker DeVries is looking to be the first back-to-back MVC Player of the Year since Creighton’s Doug McDermott in 2012 and 2013. (Photo: Drake Athletics)

For the first time, I’ve been given the opportunity to vote on the Missouri Valley Conference postseason awards. Two quick notes before I reveal my ballot:

1. I could not vote for any Murray State players since they are the team I am affiliated with/cover.

2. This was way, way, way harder than I expected it to be.

Simply put, there are a ton of really good players in this league. For me, the Player of the Year award, which I’ll get to shortly, has been a three-horse race for the last six weeks. Once you get past those three, the separation between the #4 and the #20 players in the league is pretty narrow. Trying to narrow that list down to ten so I could vote All-Conference, and THEN having to rank them in order was a much more challenging task than I ever could have imagined.

While I’m sure I’ll contradict myself at some point in the coming paragraphs, I tried to make sure my votes were weighted with two main criteria. I believe that winning matters, and if there was a tie in my mind, I’d lean toward the guy that played better against Murray State when I got to watch them perform with my own eyes.

As I’ve said more than once over the years, sports are a lot like art. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What I value in “Most Valuable” is likely far different from what you consider to be important. I say all that to say: Here are my All-Conference selections — prepare to be mad.

All-Conference Team/Larry Bird Player of the Year Ballot