Fraud Alert!

Attention Sport's Illustrated. You've been deceived. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled.

Your love affair with statistics has blinded you to reality. Have you forgotten the Mark Twain quip about statistics? "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." Either that, or the staff is free-basing playdough.

The SI.com college hoops staff has released its Midseason All-Americans list. I'm thinking this should be interesting, after all, these guys are experts, right?

First Team:
J.J. Redick, Duke
Randy Foye, Villanova
Adam Morrison, Gonzaga
Mike Gansey, West Virginia
Shelden Williams, Duke

Not bad. I think Williams is overrated, but certainly a second or third teamer. Maybe there is a more deserving big man on the second team:

Second Team:
Dee Brown, Illinois
Allan Ray, Villanova
Maurice Ager, Michigan State
Marco Killingsworth, Indiana
LaMarcus Aldridge, Texas

Wait. Did I read that name correctly? Maroc Killingsworth? Midseason Second-Team All American as named by SI.com's college basketball writers?

Second Team:
Marco Killingsworth, Indiana
19.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 59.2% FGs

Oh. My. God. Has any player ridden the success of one fantastic performance more than Marco? When he went off against Duke's reigning defensive player of the year in Sheldon Williams on national TV and number one Duke lover Dick Vitale, I'm sure everybody across the basketball nation asked, "Who the fuck is that?"

Ask those of us who actually watch the locally televised games and we'll tell you who Killingsworth is--an over-excited big man who has difficulty passing out of double-teams, forces his way through double-teams, turns the ball over at key moments, can't shoot free-throws (but is getting better), argues with refs, and is a bully and a thug.

He is the main focus of IU's offensive style, recently defined as inarticulate, so he's bound to get the majority of the shots and IU chucks up tons of threes so he's bound to get some convenient rebounds. He can't jump worth crap and fancies himself an all-around player like Robert Vaden when he takes ill-advised three-point shots. He's a defensive liability, proven by several season or career best performances by opposing big men.

Second team All-American? He's not even a second team all Big Ten player in my book.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

And then there is Marco Killingsworth.