MWC men's basketball: BYU's Cummard, New Mexico's Giddens are co-winners

For much of the Mountain West Conference men's basketball season, particularly the last few weeks, the debate raged: Who is the league's player of the year — BYU's Lee Cummard or New Mexico's J.R. Giddens?

On Monday, the debate wasn't exactly settled as the conference's head coaches and a media panel picked Cummard and Giddens as co- players of the year.

"It's a great honor. I'm happy to get it," Cummard said of sharing the award. "J.R.'s very deserving. He's a great player and a good competitor."

Meanwhile, UNLV's Lon Kruger captured coach of the year honors and Colorado State's Marcus Walker was named newcomer of the year. Air Force's Tim Anderson received defensive player of the year honors and San Diego State's Billy White was chosen as the freshman of the year.

BYU's Cummard and Trent Plaisted were named to the All-MWC first team, along with Giddens, San Diego State's Lorrenzo Wade and UNLV's Wink Adams. Utah's Luke Nevill and Johnnie Bryant were included on the second team. Cougar Jonathan Tavernari was a member of the third team.

As for the player of the year award, a strong case could be made for either Cummard or Giddens.

On the one hand, Cummard was regarded as the best player on the league's best team. The junior from Mesa, Ariz., averaged 15.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in leading the Cougars to their second consecutive outright MWC regular-season championship. He had the conference's second-best field goal percentage in league play (54.8 percent).

"Lee is very deserving of that award. He's been really consistent all year long," said BYU coach Dave Rose. "He played on the team that won the conference championship."

On the other hand, Giddens was among the MWC's best in several statistical categories and led the league in scoring (18.3 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg) in conference games. The senior was the only MWC player to record a pair of 30-point performances this season, including a career-high 36 against Wyoming.

"Both are outstanding players. They both do so much for their respective teams, defensively, offensively, rebounding, and in transition," Kruger said. "They're different types of players, but in terms of preparing for them, it's similar in terms of the attention you have to give to them. Both are involved in every aspect of every possession on both ends of the floor. It's rare that you get two complete players that effect their teams in similar ways."