I promise I’m not going to take much time and space screaming into the night about Juwan Staten not winning Big 12 player of the year. I didn’t think he would. I thought he was deserving, but I thought Andrew Wiggins would be the pick. I thought a week ago Melvin Ejim might win it, but I just don’t agree with him winning it now. He didn’t finish strong, he didn’t perform well against Kansas and especially WVU and he just didn’t statistically supersede Wiggins and Staten.

But if we’re being honest, Wiggins and Ejim have their teams firmly in position for the postseason and Staten does not, and there’s a strong feeling among coaches and among those who vote for these awards that you need to have a team in the NCAA Tournament before the announcement if you want to win a player of the year award. There is something to that, but I think there’s also something to being the guy and doing everything and also getting your team close.

I’m actually more surprised and taken aback by the fact the league’s leader in points and assists wasn’t a unanimous first-team all-conference pick, but when coaches are made to pick their top five, some coaches are bound to pick traditional lineups, which means one point guard. Maybe two.

But, whatever, let’s just talk about the boldest player in the Big 12. WVU plays Thursday night against struggling Texas in the Big 12 Tournament. The last time WVU was in the conference tournament, Staten bottomed out and did this.

And then over the summer, he told himself he was going to be unanimous all-conference and player of the year.

“My dad’s been a motivational speaker for a while and he told me in order to achieve my goals, I need to set them first,” Staten sad. “I had to give myself something to strive for. So before the season started, I told myself I wanted to be a unanimous decision for first-team all-conference and I told myself I wanted to be the player of the year.”

Seriously, after the way he played last season — and let’s remember, there were times he didn’t play — it took some sort of audacity to set goals like that. Or not.

“If anybody has followed me through my years of basketball, I’ve always been a good player,” Staten said. “In high school, in some rankings I was a top-50 player, always a top-100 player. It’s not like I just came out of nowhere. I’ve always been a good player.

“When you move up levels of competition, you need to make adjustments. I had a good freshman year, but when I transferred to a bigger conference, a new coach, a new team, there were adjustments I needed to make. After a year of getting a grasp of everything, learning how everything was supposed to run, I was able to make adjustments and that’s why I’m having the year I’m having now.”