Carroll wins Portsmouth MVP
Posted by lukethompson on April 12, 2009
Most people still don’t think DeMarre Carroll has the skills necessary to be a great NBA player, and the Honorable Mention All-American and First-Team All-Big 12 Selection doesn’t get nearly as much attention in the national media as he deserves. But the “Junkyard Dog” continues to dominate and put up big numbers everywhere he goes, no matter who the competition is.
After a 20-point, 16-rebound, 3-assist performance in his team’s 92-74 victory in the third place game, Carroll was named the tournament’s MVP. Carroll played a team-high 29 minutes and provided more evidence that his superior work ethic and intangibles make him a better player than the scouts think and actually trump pure talent in some cases. It doesn’t seem far-fetched that an NBA team will invite Carroll to a tryout and be pleasantly surprised, if not astonished, by how much his energy and competitiveness makes him a special player. It wasn’t hard to notice this season that Missouri was a much better team when Carroll was on the court, even when he wasn’t scoring or grabbing rebounds. That might be slightly less valuable in the NBA where individualistic play is more important, but it’s something that can be a crucial piece to the puzzle.
Certainly, Carroll’s excellent tournament can only help his draft status. But without having actually watched any of the games and seen how he scored, it’s hard to gauge just how much his stock will go up. Either way, his confidence must be soaring and this surely helped him to get some of the bad taste out of his mouth from losing in the Elite 8.
Meanwhile, Leo Lyons struggled shooting the ball in his last game, making only four of 12 shots (he missed the only 3 he took). But the Tiger who most often looked like he wasn’t giving 100% this season still made his presence known on the stat sheet and wound up with another double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Lyons probably improved his draft status slightly, and with his pure talent, maybe it wouldn’t be such a surprise if some team decides to take a chance on him with a second-round pick. If there’s one area he improved upon this season, it was his maturity, and that might be the key to his ticket to the next level.
