Peter Suder was great this season for the undefeated Miami (OH) RedHawks. However, he had no right winning Mid-American Conference (MAC) Player of the Year.

Personally, I would have voted for Kent State’s Delrecco Gillespie, Bowling Green’s Javontae Campbell and Akron’s Tavari Johnson (in that order) before Suder, and I firmly believe all three of those players have much better cases for the MAC’s most prestigious award than Suder.

Suder

It’s undeniable that Suder was great this season, helping propel Miami to an undefeated regular season, the first in MAC history.

Even though he had multiple clutch shots down the stretch under the eye of heavy media attention, he was nowhere close to the sole reason the RedHawks went 31-0.

Peter Suder did not win a MAC Player of the Week award this season. Think about that for a second: The MAC Player of the Year was never deemed the best player in the conference for any of the 17 weeks during the regular season.

However, two of his teammates—Brant Byers and Luke Skaljac—each earned a MAC Player of the Week honor.

In comparison, Gillespie, Campbell and Johnson led the conference in weekly honors, winning three apiece.

Yes, Suder excelled in the clutch this year, but he was one of the many cogs in a dominant unit.

Even with the easiest schedule in the MAC, Suder placed no higher than eighth in any major statistic.

He ranked eighth in 3-point percentage (42%), ninth in assists per game (3.9), 11th in field goal percentage (55.6%) and steals (42), 12th in points per game (14.8) and 24th in free throw percentage (72.5).

Even in his best category—3-point shooting—Suder ranked only 24th in the conference with 34 made 3-pointers.

Comparatively, Gillespie, Campbell and Johnson all led the conference in a statistic, with Gillespie and Campbell also leading the country in a category.

Interestingly, Suder did not perform any better in MAC play. He ranked seventh in the conference in steals (29), 10th in assists per game (4.3), 12th in points per game (16.0), 13th in field goal percentage (52%), 21st in blocks (10), 22nd in free throw percentage (73.8%) and 25th in rebounds per game (5.2). He did not place in the top-25 in 3-point percentage or 3-pointers made.

Simply put, Suder was great but not consistently dominant enough to be deemed the best player in the conference.

Gillespie

Unlike Suder, Gillespie was downright dominant all season.

The senior forward led the country with 21 double-doubles, while also ranking fourth in the nation with 11.2 rebounds per game.

Gillespie also led Suder in three more statistics, ranking fourth in the MAC with 18.1 points per game, sixth with 42 blocks and 10th with 78.6% shooting on free throws.

Campbell

Campbell is the unquestioned best defender in the MAC, something Suder can’t claim for any part of his game.

The senior guard leads the nation with 96 steals, and is seven swipes away from tying Bonzi Wells’ single season MAC record, which has stood since the 1997-98 campaign.

Additionally, Campbell led Suder in three more areas, ranking second in the conference with 18.8 points per game, sixth with 5.1 assists per game and 16th with 76.1% shooting on free throws.

Campbell also paced the MAC with 21.4 points per game and ranked third with 6.0 assists per game during conference play.

Johnson

Although Johnson does not lead the country in any category, he has just as good of a case as Gillespie and Campbell.

The senior guard leads the MAC with 20.2 points per game and 89.9% shooting on free throws.

He also leads Suder in two more stats, ranking fourth in the conference with 5.2 assists per game and sixth with 70 3-pointers made.

Something that also needs to be considered is the voting process. The coaches vote on the end-of-year specialty awards but media members vote on the All-MAC Tournament teams—how does that make sense?

Ultimately, the conference and coaches chose the best player on the best team—a media darling—instead of the best player in the conference.