By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Now that the college basketball regular season has come to an end it’s time for some of those in the media to start handing out individual awards, and for those of us who don’t have a vote, to second guess them. With that in mind, the ACC is off to a terrific start.

During the first half of the Duke/Carolina game the other night one of my closest friends, whom I’ve known since I was two and is a huge UNC fan, sent me a text that said if Luke Kennard or John Collins didn’t win Player of the Year in the ACC it’d be a travesty.

Throw in a few well placed expletives that Samuel L. Jackson would be proud of and you’ll understand the manner in which the text was sent. Too bad my buddy doesn’t have a vote, since neither of them won.

I like Justin Jackson a lot as a player and believe he is more than deserving of being on the All ACC 1st team. I can even understand the argument as to why he is the Player of the Year, I just don’t agree with it.

To me, nobody deserved it more than John Collins. Besides the “eye test” which he obviously passed, Collins finished the conference schedule 3rd in scoring, 2nd in rebounds, 4th in blocks, and 1st in field goal percentage- beating out Jackson in every single category.

Wake finished at 9-9 and looks to be headed to the NCAA tournament, so the whole argument about not giving the award to a player on an awful team, ala TJ Warren from a few years back, isn’t necessarily valid.

When all is said and done, I don’t agree with Jackson winning, but I understand it. I can’t say the same when it comes to the Coach of the Year.

Josh Pastner has done a terrific job with Georgia Tech, but there’s no way he should have won Coach Of the Year over Roy Williams. And this is coming from a someone who despises UNC so much that had my wife not stopped me I would’ve named my daughter Matt Doherty Lanier just so I would never have to forget his tenure at Carolina. As much as I hate to say it, and believe me I do, Roy should’ve won this award going away.

Carolina just won the regular season by two games over Florida State, in what a majority of people have said is the most competitive season in ACC history. They not only accomplished this with lesser NBA talent than a lot of the teams below them, but they also had a rash of injuries they’ve been dealing with. This may actually be one of Roy’s better coaching jobs.

Instead, the award is given to Pastner because, and let’s just be honest here, he stated that when he initially took the job the Athletic Director told him they wouldn’t win a conference game the entire year.

Except, just the other day Georgia Tech’s A.D. went on record that he never said it. In a world where #fakenews has become a part of our everyday vernacular, Pastner has been doing his best Sean Spicer.

Did the Yellow Jackets exceed expectations? Yes. Did they still finish 8-10? Sure. Did Pastner win because the media misjudged how much talent was actually on that team? Absolutely.

It’s almost as if these awards are given, not based on anyone’s actual performance, but rather how badly the media misjudged them before the season even starts. “Congratulations for not sucking as bad as we thought you would…..now here’s an award.”