Pendleton County’s Dontaie Allen was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball Tuesday night by the Kentucky Lion’s Eye Foundation, an award where University Heights Academy senior Kyky Tandy was a finalist.
Allen was averaging 42.9 points a game and 14.2 rebounds when he suffered a torn ACL on Dec. 22. His season was cut short after playing in just 13 games. Pendleton County was 9-4 with Allen and 1-14 without him.
Allen was one of four players considered a strong candidate for 2019 Mr. Basketball. Scott County’s Michael Moreno and Trinity’s David Johnson also suffered injuries during their senior season. Johnson, who missed six games with a leg injury, averaged 16 points and seven rebounds.
Like Allen, Moreno, who has not committed to a school, missed just over half his team’s game with a leg injury. He is averaging 15 points and eight rebounds.
The only Mr. Basketball front-runner to escape injury-free was Tandy, who was voted Second Region Player of the Year by both the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches and Second Region Basketball Coaches Association. He led the region in scoring at 26.4 points a game, scoring 926 points on the season.
He finished his high school career with 3,363 points, which is second-most in Second Region history behind Earlington’s Harry Todd and is one of just three players in region history to score over 3,000 points. His point total will be in the top ten all-time when the list is updated after the state tournament.
The Mr. Basketball award is voted on by a group of individuals that includes statewide media and former winners of the award. It is sponsored by the Kentucky Lion’s Eye Foundation, who oversees the balloting. The 16 region player of the year winners who were seniors were eligible for the award.
However, there is no set criteria for Mr. Basketball voting. Do you take into account their senior season only? Is it a career award? Does good grades and good conduct factor into receiving a vote? And in the case of Allen, should you play in more than half of your team’s games to be eligible?
When Allen was announced as the winner, social media lit up, and the conspiracy theorists came out of the closet on how Allen won the award and how Tandy lost.
The fact that Allen only played in 13 of his team’s 28 games dominated the conversation. While there doesn’t appear to be an obvious parallel in past Mr. Basketball voting, there is a recent one for another top award in the state – Mr. Football. And the injured player didn’t win.
In 2014, Madison Southern’s Damien Harris was the favorite to win Mr. Football when he suffered a sprained MCL and only played in seven games his senior season. His injury likely allowed Caldwell County’s Elijah Sindelar to win the award.
If Harris had played in five games his senior year – the same percentage as Allen – would they have voted him Mr. Football? He played seven, and they didn’t.
One huge difference in voting for Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball is that the Associated Press members of the state vote for Mr. Football. I am not a member and did not have a vote. As was the case in one instance this year, YourSportsEdge.com could have purchased an AP membership for the purpose of nominating and voting for All-State players as well as Mr. Football. This is the same group of voters who struggle to provide an accurate top 10 each week and in some cases in recent years, voted for schools that no longer existed (Muhlenberg South (or voted for teams with long losing streaks (Warren Central).
So, who votes for Mr. and Miss Basketball? All current high school basketball coaches in Kentucky, members of the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches, past Mr. Basketball winners, and select media nominate players and cast a vote.
Something to keep in mind with Harris. He had not made his college choice known when voting for Mr. Football was held. He ultimately chose the University of Alabama. Mr. Football winner Sindelar had already chosen Purdue.
Allen signed with Kentucky before the basketball season started. Tandy was a Kentucky target during his junior season, even prompting Coach John Calipari to watch him in the Second Region championship game at Henderson County a year ago. However, their recruitment cooled soon after, and Tandy ultimately signed with Xavier University.
Does signing with Kentucky have any bearing on the Mr. Basketball award? Allen makes the 11th Mr. Basketball since 1980 to have signed with the University of Kentucky before the award was announced. That’s 28-percent.
In that same time, six Mr. Basketballs have gone on to play at Louisville, four to Vanderbilt, and three went to Western Kentucky.
11 times since 1980, Mr. Basketball went to Kentucky. 15 times Mr. Basketball went elsewhere AND Kentucky didn’t sign a player from the state. I don’t believe in the UK conspiracy, but the numbers are interesting given that there are only two years where Kentucky signed a home-grown player that wasn’t Mr. Basketball.
There were some who said players from western Kentucky don’t get the recognition they deserve in the voting. The only three players from the Second Region to win Mr. Basketball are Earlington’s Harry Todd (1958), Madisonville’s Jon Hood (2009), and Christian County’s Anthony Hickey (2011). Only Hood played at Kentucky.
The last Mr. Basketball from the Third Region was Owensboro’s Brandon Davenport in 1997. The only First Region player to win Mr. Basketball was North Marshall’s Pat Doyle in 1959.
17 Mr. Basketball winners have attended a high school in Louisville, while eight are from Lexington. However, only two Mr. Basketballs have come from extreme northern Kentucky – Doug Schloemer of Holmes in 1978 and Ross Neltner of Highlands in 2003. They have a stronger case for exclusion than western Kentucky.
Something else that hurt Tandy’s chances was the field. Allen is headed to Kentucky. Johnson is going to Louisville. Tandy is Xavier-bound. Before Allen, the last three Mr. Basketball winners did not sign with a power-five conference. It was a loaded field, which has been a rarity in Kentucky in the past decade.
I voted for Kyky Tandy. UHA Coach Grant Shouse did his part to get his player seen in the state. Tandy averaged over 26 points a game against a beefed-up schedule that saw the Blazers play in the King of the Bluegrass in Louisville, win the prestigious Traditional Bank Holiday Classic in Lexington, win the All-A Classic state title in Richmond where Tandy earned tournament MVP honors, and advance to the region championship game. He stayed healthy. He kept his nose clean. He stayed academically eligible. He was lucky to avoid injury. He did it with a humility that is rare in high school athletes these days. And he played in every UHA game. My vote took into account his senior season and what he accomplished. As we saw, not every voter did the same thing, and that’s why the Kentucky Mr. Basketball award needs more clarity for future voters.
It was that muddled vision of the voters that cost Tandy the Mr. Basketball award.
