The recent debate over how Terrell Owens is being judged by Pro Football Hall of Fame voters has been background noise for me, as I can argue all sides just as easily. He put up legendary numbers but was a legendary diva.
Perhaps if I could muster any sympathy for T.O., I'd take his side. But I know in this business, I'm going to face one of these dilemmas, and so it was with my Conference USA awards ballot.
Middle Tennessee's JaCorey Williams was on my short, short list for player of the year, and I'm sure that was the case for most media voters. The 6-foot-8 transfer from Arkansas is averaging 17.5 points and 7.4 rebounds, and turned a contending MTSU team into one that won the regular-season C-USA title by three games.
That he was a "one and done" doesn't bug me much, but he didn't arrive as a graduate transfer. Rather, he was dismissed by Arkansas after multiple incidents in the summer of 2015, including an allegation that he purchased items with counterfeit money. (A serious and unusual brand of college dumbness.)
So he showed up in Murfreesboro with too much baggage for the overhead bins. Do you punish him for his sins, or do you just stick to the on-court performance and vote him player of the year?
That's not a new issue. For instance I'm sure Marshall fans have long forgotten that Virginia Military running back Thomas Haskins was voted the Southern Conference's offensive player in 1996, but remember who wasn't picked.
Yes, that's the year Randy Moss terrorized that league, in one of the great mismatches in the history of sports. Voters were fair to Marshall in subsequent years, honoring Michael Payton, Chris Parker, Todd Donnan and William King, but they weren't about to support "The Freak" for reasons that needn't be rehashed here.
(Moss will get more respect with Hall of Fame voters, though not immediately. He'll be stonewalled in his first ballot, 2018. Mark it down.)
So what did I do with Williams? Fortunately, Louisiana Tech's Erik McCree also had good credentials, so I could vote for him without second-guessing myself.
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I started to climb on an even higher horse for the all-freshman team. Dirty secret: I silently root for basketball players to rise straight from the high school ranks to the college ranks, and succeed on and off the court.
No redshirting. No prep schools. No nonqualifiers. Stand out as a high school senior one year, then play as a college freshman the next. And hey, if you attend the same high school for four years, that's a bonus!
I wondered, "Could I fill this out with all 'traditional' freshmen?"
Yes, and it would have been easier than I thought. In fact, my freshman of the year would not have changed, DaQuan Bracey of Louisiana Tech. Opposing teams face up to three long years to deal with this guy, who has rung up a league-best 3.6 assists-to-turnover ratio.
The player most affected by this philosophy was Middle Tennessee's Tyrik Dixon, the Bentonville, Arkansas, native who attended Southwest Christian Academy, three hours away in Little Rock.
There's where the whole "traditionalist" philosophy can go sideways. Dixon may be a better player and person for his experience at Southwest, and there's no doubt in his accomplishments - his 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in C-USA.
And then next year, when Iran Bennett comes to Marshall from Hargrave Military Academy - coached by ex-Herd star A.W. Hamilton - do I stick to that philosophy?
With that, I listed Dixon with four "traditional" freshman - Bracey and Tech teammate Jalen Harris, Florida Atlantic's Jailyn Ingram, Byron Frohnen of Texas-San Antonio and North Texas' A.J. Lawson. (Ballots were due before MU's 106-104 win over the Mean Green.)
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Marshall lost three conference home games, and I rewarded those opponents accordingly in my all-conference ballots.
Rice's Egor Koulechov pretty much shot down the Herd last week, and not just with that game-winner with 6.5 seconds left. Texas-El Paso 7-footer Matt Willms didn't just beat Marshall inside, he showed some nice offensive skills in doing so.
I lifted Koulechov all the way to the first team, and Willms to the second. Among Marshall players, Jon Elmore was an easy first-team selection and Ryan Taylor was a third-teamer.
The first unit: Elmore, Williams, Koulechov, McCree and Alabama-Birmingham's William Lee. The second: Willms, Bracey, Jacobi Boykins of Louisiana Tech, Reggie Upshaw of MTSU and Justin Johnson of Western Kentucky.
On the third unit: Taylor, Giddy Potts of MTSU, Jon Davis of Charlotte, Ahmad Caver of Old Dominion and Domenic Artis of UTEP. And yes, I left off Rice's Marcus Jackson.
I voted Williams the newcomer of the year, Boykins the freshman of the year and ODU's Zoran Talley the sixth man of the year.
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With at least one game remaining, but Elmore has widened his margin in the scoring race. His 19 points were just below his average, but that only fell to 20.3. Davis scored only seven points and tumbled to 19.4.
Elmore leads Bracey in the assist race, 6.13 to 5.97. They have played the same 31 games, and Elmore holds a five-assist lead.
That puts Elmore on the edge of a little history. No Marshall player has swept those two categories, and only one Conference USA player has - Marquette's Travis Diener in 2003-04.
And yes, Elmore would join his father, Gay, as a scoring champ. As Herd fans of that day well know, the elder Elmore ruled the Southern Conference for two seasons, 1985-87.
The younger Elmore could be the Herd's first stat champ in any category since 2011-12, when Dennis Tinnon led with 349 rebounds in 35 games (Tinnon was topped in average).
Previous Herd conference scoring champs are Tamar Slay (1999-2000), John Brannen (1996-97), John Taft (1988-91), Skip Henderson (1987-88), George Stone (1965-66) and Leo Byrd (1957-59). Assist leaders are A.W. Hamilton (2002-03), Cornelius Jackson (1998-2000), Jason Williams (1995-96) and Greg White (1978-79).
Win or lose this week, that's nice company.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.