Keith McLeod ended his regular season with an exclamation point, dotting it off with the prestigious honor of Mid-American Conference Player of the Year yesterday.
McLeod received 30 votes from the MAC News Media Association, six more than runner up Theron Smith from Ball State. The senior guard is the first Falcon since Anthony Stacey (2000) to win the award and only the fourth player from BG. McLeod also joins the company of Antonio Daniels (1997) and Jim Penix (1970) as BG recipients of the award.
“It’s a great honor for Keith, and I think he is well-deserving of the award,” BG coach Dan Dakich said. “He got the respect he deserved and he worked as hard as anyone to get there.”
McLeod finished ninth in the nation and first in the MAC in scoring averaging 22.3 point per game. Before his Player of the Year honor, the Canton native also earned ESPN College Basketball 2Night’s “All-Onion” team, considered one of three best clutch performers in the country with Duke?s Jason Williams and Gonzaga’s Dan Dickau. McLeod had seven game-winning or clinching shots this season, more than anyone in the country according to ESPN analyst Jay Bilas.
“It feels really good,” McLeod told bgsufalcons.com. “I think I put in a lot of hard work. People have looked past me, but I have just kept going and going. I kept working and it put me in a position to where people are seeing what I am doing and what I am doing for my team.”
The season started out with a bang as McLeod threw in 33 points in an upset over Mississippi in November at the Top of the World Classic. National attention finally came his way after he hit the game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds of the Michigan game shown on ESPN’s Sportscenter. He has remained constant all season, leaving opposing coaches scratching their heads, trying to figure out a way to manipulate his offensive production as well as his tenacious defense. None have come up with a good enough game plan though.
He is the top active scorer in the MAC, and he is only two points behind Daniels for third on BG’s all-time leading scorer list with 1,787.
Seniors Len Matela and Brandon Pardon also made their way onto the conference team list. Matela, who was named Honorable Mention after his sophomore and junior season campaigns, finally made his way onto the MAC Second Team. Pardon was honored for the first time, earning Honorable Mention.
