Behind gaudy point totals, Idaho senior deserves postseason recognition
In some cases, the most valuable player for a given conference is the best player on the best team, but in others it is simply the player who is the most valuable to the team they play for. Of these two, the latter is true of Idaho and Stacey Barr.
Joshua Gamez
The senior Australian guard is leading the Big Sky in scoring by nearly four points. She averages 21.1 points per game, and this was with her struggling with an illness in January. To put this into context, the second leading scorer in the conference is Northern Colorado’s Stephanie Lee who averages 17.5 points per game.
Barr’s 21.1 points per game has her in the top 20 nationally in scoring and is less than four points per game shy of the national leader, Jasmine Mwajei from Wagner. This is an improvement on her junior season in which she averaged 18.2 points per game and was named WAC Player of the Year. She is now averaging more points and is playing in a much tougher conference. There is no reason why she shouldn’t take home back-to-back player of the year awards.
However, scoring isn’t the only thing Barr does well. She also averages 6.7 rebounds per game and is averaging 32.6 minutes per game. The minutes she averages could be much larger too, had Idaho coach Jon Newlee not pulled her from a few games this season because of either illness, injury or because the score was out of hand so there was no reason to keep her on the floor.
Barr is currently fourth on the Idaho all-time scoring list. Despite Idaho’s dwindling chances at making the Big Sky Tournament and a run at a third consecutive NCAA Tournament, her performance during her final year in black and gold is not something that should be ignored by the coaches and players in the Big Sky.
She was named the preseason player of the year, and despite Idaho underperforming slightly this season, it is no fault of Barr’s.
The aforementioned Lee from Northern Colorado is joined in the Big Sky scoring top-10 by teammate D’Shara Strange with 16.4 points per game. The Vandals’ second leading scorer is Christina Salvatore who is averaging a respectable 10 points per game. Idaho has no other scorer averaging in double figures.
Stacey Barr is the MVP in every sense of the word. Barr has been the Vandals’ leading scorer in 19 of 27 games this year.
With Barr, the Vandals are 12-15. Without her, they may not have half as many wins, which is the epitome of most valuable player. While players like Christina Salvatore, Geraldine McCorkell and Brooke Reilly have all stepped up when Idaho’s offense was struggling, they haven’t shown the consistent scoring Barr has.
If she isn’t named MVP, despite the Vandals’ current position near the bottom of the Big Sky, it will be a slap in the face of the award.
Without question, the team will miss Barr after she graduates — especially if they end up watching postseason play from their living rooms this year after playing in the Big Dance each of the last two seasons. In the meantime, the Big Sky postseason award voters should do the true conference MVP a solid and give Barr the award she deserves.
Joshua Gamez
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