The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced All-MAC honors and individual awards for men’s basketball on Wednesday.
However, the winners were not without controversy. In particular, multiple BGSU players were snubbed from awards and honors.
Javontae Campbell
Bowling Green junior guard Javontae Campbell earned All-MAC Third Team honors; however, that is not the controversial part.
After a historic defensive season, Campbell did not earn MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Instead, that honor went to Akron’s redshirt junior guard, Nate Johnson.
But the numbers don’t back up the decision.
Campbell recorded 90 steals and 2.8 steals per game this season, leading the MAC and ranking fourth in the country. He shattered the BGSU program record by eight and tallied the fifth-most steals in a single season in MAC history.
That alone should be enough for him to win the award. However, the person who won it instead must’ve had even more impressive numbers, right? It turns out the answer is no.
Johnson tallied just 59 steals and 1.8 steals per game, ranking third in the MAC.
In fact, the gap was so wide that Campbell led the conference in steals by a whopping 30.
But Johnson did lead in blocks compared to Campbell, 16 to 10. Johnson’s 16 blocks were not a standout number, ranking just 21st in the MAC.
However, Johnson did not have a huge lead in the blocks category, as the two players each had 10 rejections in conference play.
To add to the argument, Campbell was the more consistent defensive player.
Campbell recorded 12 games with at least four steals, including a four-steal game against Johnson’s Zips in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Johnson had just five such games.
In addition, Campbell had just one game without a steal or block, while Johnson had six games without recording a defensive takeaway.
The argument also cannot be made that Johnson led a much better defense, as BG ranked one spot ahead of the Zips in scoring defense, largely due to Campbell’s lockdown defense.
To make everything more impressive, Campbell put up these numbers after playing through a broken right hand he suffered on Jan. 7 against Western Michigan. He also broke his left hand on March 1 against Ball State. While he did not fully participate in a practice since breaking his right hand, Campbell did not miss a game the entire season and continued to dominate on defense, making his season even more incredible.
The numbers just don’t add up to support Johnson winning the award over Campbell. While I don’t use the term often, it’s safe to say Campbell was robbed.
Jamai Felt
BGSU redshirt freshman forward Jamai Felt earned a nod to the MAC All-Freshman Team, which was deserved. In fact, he also had an argument for MAC Freshman of the Year, although it was essentially a tossup between him and Miami’s Brant Byers.
However, it doesn’t make sense that Felt did not also earn a spot on the MAC All-Defensive Team.
Instead, Kent State’s Cli’Ron Hornbeak and Ohio’s AJ Clayton earned the two forward spots on the team rather than Felt.
Once again, the numbers just don’t support this decision.
Felt had a spectacular season, leading the MAC with 46 blocks, while Clayton and Hornbeak tallied 44 and 42, respectively.
It is important to note that Clayton did lead the conference with 1.5 blocks per game, although Felt trailed just behind with 1.4.
However, Felt was without a doubt the most dominant defender of the three in conference play, leading the MAC with 34 blocks and 1.9 blocks per game once the calendar flipped to 2025. Meanwhile, Hornbeak tallied 32 blocks and 1.8 blocks per game in conference play, while Clayton finished with 23 blocks and 1.5 rejections per contest against MAC opponents.
Felt did have the fewest steals of the three, albeit by the thinnest of margins. He tallied 14 steals, compared to Hornbeak’s 15 and Clayton’s 17; however, none of those totals are even remotely high enough to come close to outweighing the blocks.
Felt was also extremely consistent, tallying 15 games with multiple blocks, tied for the most in the MAC with Clayton. Hornbeak trailed well behind, tallying just nine such games.
Even though Hornbeak was part of the best scoring defense in the MAC, BG was not far behind, ranking as the fourth-best scoring defense in the conference, as stated earlier. Clayton’s Bobcats trailed well behind, ranking eighth in the category.
To say Felt was not one of the two best defensive forwards this season is ludicrous.
But why were Campbell and Felt snubbed?
The easiest explanation is Bowling Green’s lack of success this season.
Campbell and Felt’s Falcons just snuck into the MAC Tournament as the eighth and final seed, finishing the year with a 14-17 overall and 8-10 conference record.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s Zips were the best team in the MAC this season, winning the MAC regular season title with a 27-6 overall and 17-1 conference record.
Hornbeak’s Golden Flashes and Clayton’s Bobcats were also better teams. Kent State finished third in the MAC with a 22-11 overall and 11-7 conference record, while Ohio placed fifth with a 16-16 overall and 10-8 conference mark.
However, the team’s record should not have outweighed the individual performances of Campbell and Felt this season.
For one, Campbell and Felt were far and away deserving of the honors they were rejected. Secondly, it should be reminded that these are individual awards and not team awards. You also cannot say Campbell and Felt added less value to their teams than the players who won the awards and earned the honors, as the two players resurrected a BG team from a 2-7 conference play start to a MAC Tournament appearance.
In the end, while awards are just awards and are not the end of the world, it’s clear Campbell and Felt were unjustly punished for their team’s performance and robbed of honors they fully deserved.
