Long Beach State's Sterling Byrd gets snubbed (March 6, 2007)

A crime was committed by the voters of the Big West Men’s basketball All Conference Team. Sure I commend them on naming Aaron Nixon the Big West player of the year and naming the LBSU starting backcourt of Kevin Houston and Kejuan Johnson to the All Conference teams; however one name was astray from that list. The name of Sterling Byrd. Byrd led the Big West Champions in scoring eight times this year, second only to Nixon on the team and made clutch plays throughout the season. Whether it was sinking the dagger against the rival Pacific Tigers on ESPN or scorching 26 against a resilient Pepperdine team, Byrd soared high. Byrd averaged 14 points and six rebounds and was in the top 10 in the conference in steals. Despite having the numbers and being on the conferences most paramount team, voters still affronted him and elected to select Anthony Brown of Pacific and Chris Devine of Santa Barbara over Byrd. Brown averaged 14 points and seven rebounds and Devine averaged 14 points and six rebounds. Yes it is a fact that all three players virtually had the same numbers, however it is fiction that they are better than Byrd. In two head to head meeting against Brown, Byrd was the more palpable player. In the first meeting Byrd scored 22 points six rebounds, while Brown scored 18 points and six rebounds and the victory in a 92-64 route telecasted by Fox Sports. In the second meeting Byrd registered a double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds on ESPN while Brown failed to reach double digits in scoring and once again Byrd’s team recorded a victory. In fact, last time I checked it was Brown who tried to guard Byrd during the dagger ending three in that game. In comparison to Devine the story was the equivalent. Byrd’s team won both matchups including a 101-65 route and Devine was outscored, out rebounded, and outplayed by No. 15 of the Beach. Despite the travesty by the Big West voters one thing is for certain is that Byrd won’t lay his head low and the success of the team for him outweighs the individual accolades. This is why this Byrd will continue to fly high.