My "Huh?????!!!" Moment of this Basketball Season

By John Scognamiglio

For the better part of this semester, I have been plugging and rooting for Georgia Mueller. I have called her on numerous occasions the "prohibitive favorite for MIAA Freshman of the Year." Even in my previous blog entry, I said that the game within the game would be Cortney Shewmaker vs. Mueller, to see who would be freshman of the year.

I don't like being wrong, but at least I can admit when I am wrong. And I must admit that I am wrong. Apparently, I forgot about little Meghan Welch, who was named today the MIAA Freshman of the Year. I did mention her as part of the competitors to the Freshman of the Year in my profile story on Mueller. But I thought that she was the third best of the freshman class this year.

I will for the sake of time and my wish to not be quoted wrong, copy and paste what the MIAA website says of Ms. Welch.

"MSSU G/F Meghan Welch, the Lions' second-leading scorer (10.0 ppg), was selected as the Freshman of the Year. She ranks fifth in the MIAA in three-point shooting (39.9 percent) and sixth in three-pointers made per game (2.11)."

Now, I only have to copy and paste the first sentence on the Truman athletic's site about Mueller.

"Inexplicably, Truman’s Georgia Mueller did not receive the conference freshman of the year award."

So why is there controversy brooding on Florida 2000 and the Olympic figure skating scandal of 2002? Well, I love facts. I thrive on knowledge and knowing facts. Plus, I only saw Missouri Southern twice this year, while I have had a season of watching Mueller and the rest of the Bulldogs play.

So, in an attempt to figure out what makes a freshman of the year, I was surprised to find out that statistics must not be an important part of the discussion. I actually looked at each other's stats to see if Ms. Welch was a better player.

I would like to say before I go any further, that I am not attacking Meghan Welch. I have the utmost respect for basketball players and I wish her congratulations on winning a prestigious award in a very good conference, and I am sure this award is the first of many that she will have in her long MIAA career.

Here we go with the stats:

Games played: Welch 27, Mueller 27
Games started: Welch 6, Mueller 23
Field Goals: Welch 91-227 for .401 percent, Mueller 116-261 for .444 percent
Three Pointers: Welch 57-143 for .399 percent, Mueller 7-25 for .280 percent
Free throws: Welch 30-40 for .750 percent, Mueller 89-119 for .748 percent
Rebounds: Welch 9 offensive and 54 defensive for 2.3 rebounds per game,
Mueller 57 offensive and 109 defensive for 6.1 rebounds per game
Assists: Welch 23, Mueller 38
Turnovers: Welch 51, Mueller 80
Blocks: Welch 6, Mueller 34
Steals: Welch 18, Mueller 24
Points Per Game: Welch 10.0, Mueller 12.1

So...hmmm...Mueller has Welch dominated on stats in eight categories. So it must be that Welch had better games against Mueller when they played each other.

Well...Missouri Southern does have two wins against the 'Dogs, on Jan. 7 and Feb. 18. But, let's look at their lines from the contests

Jan. 7: Welch played 24 minutes, had 11 points and 5 rebounds
Mueller started, played 35 minutes, had 21 points and 12 rebounds

Feb. 18: Welch played 9 minutes, had 15 points and zero rebounds
Mueller played 25 minutes, had 12 points and 10 rebounds

So Welch averaged 16.5 minutes, 13 points and 2.5 rebounds in the two games. Mueller averaged 30 minutes, 16.5 points, and 11 rebounds in the two games.

So...hmmm...Mueller has the edge there. Wait, I must have forgotten, Welch may be a team leader for the Lions moreso than Mueller for the Bulldogs.

Well, Welch has led the Lions in scoring three times this season and in rebounding once. Mueller on the other hand, has led the Bulldogs in scoring seven times this season and in rebounding eight times, in fact, leading the Bulldogs four times this season in both categories.

So...hmm...Wait, maybe Welch played better against Washburn and Emporia State, the conference's top-ranked teams.

Well, in the two games against ESU, Welch averaged 10.5 points, 16.5 minutes, and one rebound. In the two games against Washburn, Welch averaged 6 points, 18.5 minutes, and 2.5 rebounds.

In the two games against ESU, Mueller averaged 15.5 points, 28.5 minutes, and six rebounds. In the two games against Washburn, Mueller averaged 15 points, 25.5 minutes, and 2.5 rebounds.

So...hmmm...It would appear that Mueller would have the edge there too.

As Stewie Griffin would say, "There's treachery afoot!" I have looked at overall stats, stats against each other, stats against top teams, and team leaders stats. And if I can count right (thank you math minor), I think that Mueller would have the edge in those four categories and Welch is not a factor.

Why is it that a woman who is 13th in the conference in scoring, 12th in rebounding, 8th in free-throw percentage and 5th in blocked shots not get any awards, especially when she's a freshman?

To me, the answer is very simple: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

The Bulldogs have been disrespected. If this was the Godfather, we'd be goin to the mattresses right now. It's all about a lack of respect the Bulldogs have. Missouri Southern is the fourth seed in the conference tourney, finished at .500 in conference, going 16-11 overall this year.

Truman finished 3-13 in conference, 12-15 overall. The Bulldogs actually had to win Saturday to get into the tournament. What did Mueller do? She scored 22 points to lead the Bulldogs and collected 10 rebounds to lead the team in both categories, and she started.

Missouri Southern ended the regular season losing to Emporia State. Welch had 19 points on 6-11 shooting from behind the arc, and she came off the bench too.

So I pose this question: which is bigger? Welch's upset? Or Mueller's hose?