D.J. Cooper and Keith Dambrot Take Final MAC Awards

It was probably elementary. You have a player that has accomplished all-around greatness in a way that no player in the history of college basketball has achieved.

That should leave no doubt who the MAC Player of the Year should be.

D.J. Cooper, the only player in college basketball history with 2,000 points, 900 assists, 600 rebounds and 300 steals, defeated Zeke Marshall for the top player in the conference by a vote of 16-7. Buffalo's Javon McCrea, Ball State's Jauwaun Scaife and Toledo's Rian Pearson all received at least one vote.

Along those same lines, it is hard not to pick Akron's Keith Dambrot for the coach of the year. The Zips rolled through the MAC when at full strength, and that was after losing one of their top inside players prior to the season. The emergence of Demetrius Treadwell into a real interior force helped that, but Dambrot gets a lot of credit for keeping this team together.

His coaching will get another test this week as Akron tries to compete without point guard Alex Abreu. That could put a major damper on a season that included a 23-6 record, and a real shot to do some damage in the NCAA Tournament.

Ohio's Jim Christian, Toledo's Tod Kowalczyk and Western Michigan's Steve Hawkins, all received one vote.