The men's basketball team has earned the second seed and a triple bye to the semi finals of the Mid-American Conference while the women's team was bounced in the first round. However, both teams have players receiving individual honors.
Senior guard Brittany Hedderson, along with forwards senior Mitchell Watt and sophomore Javon McCrea were all named to the All-MAC first team. Watt and Mitchell became just the third and fourth players ever to be named to the first team after assistant coach Turner Battle (2005) and Rodney Pierce (2010), and the first Bulls teammates to be named to the All-MAC first team.
"In a perfect world you'd want that because you got things spread out every couple of years," said men's head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "You got a sophomore who's played with a senior and hopefully they have learned from each other and hopefully that sophomore can pass that on to someone else who may coming in or someone that he's teammates with and get a chance to establish some continuity."
Watt was also named MAC Player of the Year earlier this week. He finished in second in the MAC in points (16.2), fourth in rebound (7.1), third in field goal percentage (.572), second in blocked shots (2.5), and third in defensive rebounds (5.3). Watt believes he and McCrea were picked because of the team's game plan.
"I think it's appropriate to have two Buffalo players on the first team because we do play such great team basketball," Watt said. "A lot of guys can be successful in a system where every player out there is valued, it's really good. It's a good representation of Buffalo basketball."
Witherspoon and Watt both agree the accolades Watt is receiving is a culmination of four years of work. Watt recovered from Guillen-Barré Syndrome and emerged as the conference's best player.
"It's an unbelievable story when you think about it," Witherspoon said. "Number one, how far he's come. Number two, what he persevered, in terms of adversity, through. And number three, wasn't player of the week one time his whole career until the week he was named Player of the Year. I don't know if that has ever been done before, anywhere in the country, I just think it's a phenomenal thing to be a part of it."
McCrea was named Freshman of the Year and All-MAC honorable mention last year and followed it up by becoming just the third sophomore in the last ten years to be named to the first team.
McCrea was eighth in the conference in scoring (14.1), fifth in rebounding (7.1), second in field goal percentage (.573), fourth in field goal percentage (.551), and second in offensive rebounds (2.9).
Despite her team having a 9-22 (4-12 MAC) record this year, Hedderson was still named to the All-MAC first team. She was second in the conference in scoring (21.3) and led the conference in minutes played (38.2).
"We are extremely proud of Brittany," said women's head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "It's pretty amazing considering she wasn't named to any of the all-MAC teams in the preseason. It's a testament to the season that she has had. She's one the best guards in the conference."
McCrea is proud of the All-MAC selection but said "we still have a lot to do, I still want to win a championship."
The men's team is just two wins away from the MAC Championship. It plays Ohio Friday at 9:30 p.m. in the semi finals, with finals being at 8 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN2. All games are in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
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