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PG Aaron Craft (B1G 6th MOY '11, Def POY '12, Acad AA, Dolomiti En. TR - Italy)

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The Most Hated College Basketball Players of the Last 30 Years

Craft is a 7 seed in the 00s bracket opposite Joakim Noah. Duke has its own region. lol.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...ated-college-basketball-players-last-30-years

grant_bracket_hatedplayersRd1.jpg
 
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Call me a :osu:homer but I think that Aaron deserved to be named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year over VO. Victor is a better all-around basketball player than Craft but defensively I don't think anyone is more disruptive to an opponent's offense then Craft. Jim Jackson says that may be Victor won the award because he can defend 4 positions but I still think he is more disruptive to an offense then Craft. I guess if Aaron could dunk the ball after he stole it from an opposing player he would be more recognized than the guy who does. I always thought the most important position on the basketball court was the opposing PG and if he could disrupt him you could take the entire team out of its offense but that's just me.

As someone stated in another thread these awards are just jokes.
 
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LitlBuck;2314068; said:
Call me a :osu:homer but I think that Aaron deserved to be named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year over VO. Victor is a better all-around basketball player than Craft but defensively I don't think anyone is more disruptive to an opponent's offense then Craft. Jim Jackson says that may be Victor won the award because he can defend 4 positions but I still think he is more disruptive to an offense then Craft. I guess if Aaron could dunk the ball after he stole it from an opposing player he would be more recognized than the guy who does. I always thought the most important position on the basketball court was the opposing PG and if he could disrupt him you could take the entire team out of its offense but that's just me.

As someone stated in another thread these awards are just jokes.
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I hate to admit Oladipo's defensive stats are pretty impressive, but can you fully measure defensive impact in stats alone (and as you mention dunk highlights)? B1G MVP Trey Burke was 4-of-13 shooting with 4 turnovers at the Schott in January, a game in which Craft got credit for 1 steal. And how about Keith Appling a couple weeks ago? The box score only shows offense for Craft that day.

I think maybe Crean's crying about player awards was a minor factor here.

Craft is simply without equal as a shutdown defender in college basketball today.
 
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Craft's defense continues to be outstanding, and I would have voted him the award. Nonetheless, it's hard to be too upset losing to a defender as good as Oladipo. Different skill set, but it has been a joy watching both these young men play D this season, along with Shannon Scott (who will be the favorite to bring this award home in his senior season).

I think probably some of the voters reasoned that, since Craft had already won this award once, it wouldn't hurt to spread the love a little. Human nature, and maybe this kind of thinking will help Braxton Miller at Heisman voting next year when he's up against Manziel.
 
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Kind of surprised Craft didn't win DPOY again. Usually the incumbent has an advantage because reputation helps I think, but he was slightly behind Oladipo in terms of average number of steals per game. However, it's not like winning the Big Ten and averaging more steals than everybody else helped Mike Conley make the all-defensive team in 2007 over three other guards who didn't win the Big Ten or have as many steals that year. There's a lot of inconsistency I think in terms of the Big Ten awards - it seems the standards change from year to year and team to team.
 
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http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...craft-earns-wrath-fans-michigan-espn-magazine

A theory about Aaron Craft
Why the Buckeyes point guard is always the most hated player on the court

What has he done to deserve this? Why have students like Lipnik counted the days (353, to be exact) until Craft returned to Crisler? Because he's a pest. Because his physical, in-your-face defense can fluster anyone, even Michigan's Player of the Year candidate, Trey Burke. And because of something else -- something difficult to pin down.

Twenty-four hours earlier, in a meeting room in the heart of Michigan's campus, some 65 members of the Maize Rage, the UM student section, are squirming in their seats.

They are there to organize outfits and cheers, taunts and jeers. All agree Craft certainly will be a target. But then the group is asked to vote, by a show of hands, if they would feel differently about Craft if he weren't white. The students pause. Deliberate. A few hands gradually pop up. And then a few more. When it's clear that it's socially acceptable to do so, nearly half the students in the room -- a room where everyone, coincidentally, is white -- raise their hands.

Fans hate Craft's shifting D -- and the fact that he just doesn't care thay they do.
FROM THE REACTION, it's obvious that most of these fans weren't really aware they enjoy insulting a white player partly because he's white. It's easier to believe they hate him just because, and to keep tricky racial biases relegated to the subconscious.

Lipnik, though, is more open about his predilections than most. "I'm thrilled you said that," Lipnik says when asked about the role Craft's skin color plays in his long-brewing animosity. "I didn't want to be the racist guy who calls out the white thing. But that's exactly one of the main reasons I hate him. He's that rural white guy who thinks he's hard-nosed, the my-dad-taught-me-how-to-play-defense, I-can't-score-the-basketball-if-you-paid-me guy. And everyone hates those guys. They're just ... just annoying."
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