Big 12 overlooks Boggan

The Big 12 basketball awards were announced Monday, with a few surprises for Oklahoma State fans.It was not surprising that Texas forward P.J. Tucker was the Player of the Year, Texas center LaMarcus Aldridge was Defensive Player of the Year, Kansas guard Brandon Rush was Freshman of the Year and Kansas’ Bill Self was selected Coach of the Year.But Newcomer of the Year went to Oklahoma guard Michael Neal and not OSU forward Mario Boggan.Boggan is a 6-foot-7, 235-pound junior who transfered from Chipola College. He has started all 30 games for the Cowboys and leads OSU in points (14.6 ppg), rebounds (5.6 rpg) and blocks (24 total) while shooting 58.5 percent (166-of-284) and hitting 80.5 percent of his free throws (99-of-123).He led all Big 12 newcomers in points, rebounds and shooting percentage. He also led all newcomers who made at least 2.5 free throws per game in percentage at the stripe to qualify for the Big 12 leaders list.Meanwhile, Neal has made eight starts, averaging 13 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 40.6 percent (101-of-249) and hitting 39-of-46 free throws (84.8 percent).He led the newcomers in 3-point percentage (84-of-195, .431) and 3-pointers made (3.36 per game). In conference play, he set a record with 3.9 treys per game.The OSU coaching staff expected Boggan to join Maurice Baker (2001), Tony Allen (2003) and Joey Graham (2004) as Cowboys to win the award.Instead, Neal becomes the second-straight Sooner (Taj Gray in 2005) and fourth OU player overall to grab it.Also, no Cowboy was named on the three All-Big 12 teams, with only Boggan and sophomore guard JamesOn Curry making honorable mention.Boggan wasn’t even on the all-rookie team, where Kansas’ freshman trio of Mario Chalmers, Rush and Julian Wright, Neal and Baylor freshman Curtis Jerrells were selected.But perhaps the biggest slap in the face of a squad coached by a Sutton is that no Cowboy made the All-Defensive Team.OSU swingman Marcus Dove, who uses his 6-foot-9 frame to slow down star guard after star guard, was behind Aldridge, Chalmers, Gray, Kansas’ Russell Robinson and Tucker in that vote.Who is NCAA-bound?Oklahoma State still hopes to win four games in four days to claim its third-consecutive Big 12 Tournament championship and qualify for next week’s NCAA Tournament.Several conference teams are not in that predicament and stand a good chance to get into the NCAAs without winning Sunday’s title game.Co-Big 12 regular season champions Texas (25-5, 13-3) and Kansas (22-7, 13-3) are in, as is Oklahoma (20-7, 11-5). Texas A&M (20-7, 10-6) should probably win its quarterfinal game Friday just to be safe, but it should get a bid.Colorado (19-8, 9-7) is a bubble team, finishing fifth in the conference race. CU is out if it loses its first-round game to No. 12 seed Baylor (4-12). If the Buffs win that game and then top Texas A&M in the quarterfinals on Friday, they deserve to make it.It appears the only other conference team who has any shot to get in without winning Sunday is sixth-seeded Nebraska (17-12, 7-9), which might get in if it can make the championship game.