Well, this is just cute.

After Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor was snubbed – no wait, that’s not strong enough.

After the national media spat in the face of Jordan Taylor and exposed their crazy-extreme ignorance by selecting Demetri McCamey ahead of Taylor for the Bob Cousy Award Finalists list, the voters have been forced to publicly recant this mistake on the heels of Taylor’s virtuoso performance in UW’s victory over previously undefeated and No. 1 Ohio State. After all, with Taylor pouring in 27 points on 13 total shots to go with seven assists against just one turnover, and single-handedly erasing a 15-point deficit in little over three minutes, the Cousy Award quickly trended as a national joke.

And Bob’s good name cannot have that.

So in an act of silent contrition, the finalist list of 10 became 11 with the inclusion of Taylor. Which is a pretty good metaphor for how under-appreciated Taylor’s season has been.

But my excellent colleague Adam Holt has already covered this “snub” (it’s shorter) in depth. Check it out here.(https://badgerherald.com/sports/2011/02/09/holt_taylor_snub_min.php)

Instead, we are here to examine today whether the good fans of Wisconsin might even be under-appreciating Taylor’s play themselves.

As Holt pointed out in his column last week, Taylor’s season compares favorably in every light to Devin Harris’ junior year.

Well if Taylor compares favorably, to Harris, who doesn’t he stack up with?

More succinctly put, Taylor is enjoying the greatest single season ever for a Badger basketball player.

Taylor’s excellence can be expressed in a lot of ways, but here is a quick overview of his stat line: The junior guard averages 18.1 points per game on 46/42/85 shooting, boasts the nation’s top assist-to-turnover ratio at 4-to-1 and even chips in 4.4 rebounds per contest. According to statistics guru Ken Pomeroy, Taylor ranks as the most efficient offensive player in the nation, and he averages 1.45 points per shot. And remember he does this all while UW plays at the slowest pace in the nation and relies on Taylor to take the majority of shots when the shot clock dips below 10 seconds

OK, so obviously those numbers are awesome-sick. Anyone in the country not named Jimmer would be happy with that production, especially when you look at it in a tempo free light.

And as it turns out, any player in UW’s history would trade his own stat line for Taylor’s as well.

Devin Harris? The junior guard averaged 19.5 PPG, on 46/37/80 shooting. One point more than Taylor, but worse shooting across the board. As for taking care of the ball, Harris’ 2.14-to-1 assist to turnover ratio is nearly half as good as Taylor’s.

From the team standpoint the 2003-04 Badgers and this year’s edition are nearly identical. Harris’ team lost seven games on the season and went undefeated at home. They finished second in the Big Ten, won the Big Ten Conference Tournament and fell in the second round of the NCAA Tourney.

While it is nearly sacrilege to put down Harris in Wisconsin, the numbers don’t lie. Taylor’s season has been better.

As for other contender’s for the crown, no one scores as efficiently or distributes the ball better.

Alando Tucker scored a bit more at 19.9 PPG, but shot threes at a 33 percent rate and free throws at just 66 percent. Shockingly, he only grabbed one more rebound a game than Taylor. And the 1.2 assist-to-turnover of Tucker’s? Well, let’s just say when he got the ball inside the arc, he probably wasn’t giving it up.

Go back further and look at Michael Finley. The future NBA All-Star certainly had a prolific career, averaging over 20 points a game in three different seasons. In his top two seasons, Finley could fill the hoop as well as anyone, scoring 20-22 points, while shooting 46/36/78. Of course, these numbers were compiled while playing at a much faster pace, and the Badgers didn’t finish over .500 in the Big Ten in either of those seasons or make the NCAA Tournament.

Yes, it seems pretty clear that if Taylor keeps up at his current pace, his season will go down as THE greatest performance over a year in Wisconsin history. No one has ever scored as efficiently or run a team more effectively at point guard. He is the ultimate Bo Ryan player, mistake free, calm under pressure and wildly underrated.

It is nice to see Bob Cousy and Co. can finally appreciate it.

Michael is a senior majoring in journalism. Think there has been a better season in UW history? Let him know at [email protected]