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Delon Wright a notable Cousy snub

Larry Krystkowiak

Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak huddles with his team in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arizona State, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Utah won 60-55. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

AP

It has become vogue to criticize selections to both the Wooden and Cousy awards; the John R. specifically drew the ire nationally when its midseason list was unveiled and a few names, including Kansas’ Joel Embiid and Michigan’s Nik Stauskas, were omitted (though both can still be included amongst the finalists). One player, though, that hasn’t drawn much support for his failure of inclusion is Utah’s Delon Wright -- the 6-foot-5 junior college transfer was not listed as one of the 23 Cousy Award finalists, which seems like a strange oversight considering Wright’s level of play this season.

Wright is ranked within the top 100 of several Ken Pom categories, and without a reliable perimeter game -- Wright has only taken 41 threes this season and a whopping 62 percent of his attempts come at the rim, the most of any guard in the Pac-12 with over 100 field goal attempts -- Wright has emerged as the team’s (and arguably, the conference’s) most efficient players. Wright has posted an offensive rating below 100 in just three Pac-12 contests, and is assisting on 27 percent of his teammates’ field goals (while committing just 35 turnovers per the 780 possessions he’s been on the floor in conference play). In a short time, Wright has become one of the west coast’s premier point guards, and is so far the one Ute who coach Larry Krystkowiak has likely diagrammed end of game plays for.

One would think the Cousy list is concrete but apparently not -- ESPN’s Jeff Goodman recently reported Billy Baron of Canisius was added to the tally, upping the total to 24 finalists, so perhaps there is hope Wright (who didn’t left the floor in the recent games against USC and UCLA) might also get a nod.

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