The Best Is Definitely Last for Busy Nelson

This is how wild Jameer Nelson’s schedule has been.

It was after 9 p.m. Friday before he got away from the Naismith Award banquet in Atlanta, and he had a 10 p.m. flight to Los Angeles to be here for the John R. Wooden Award ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

“I had to cut my speech a little short,” said Nelson, the Saint Joseph’s point guard who has virtually swept the player-of-the-year awards and Saturday added the final one, the Wooden Award.

“All the trophies mean a lot to me, but sitting next to Coach Wooden means a lot more than any trophy I’ll receive in my lifetime,” said Nelson, who led the Hawks to an undefeated regular season, a No. 1 ranking and the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight.

“I’ll see the trophies in my home or basement, but sitting with this man here is something I can cherish.

“Like I say, I’m here with the greatest coach ever.”

St. Joe’s Coach Phil Martelli saw his opening.

“Thanks,” he said, to laughter. “You didn’t have to say that.”

Martelli, who has watched Nelson pick up the Associated Press player-of-the-year award, the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.’s Oscar Robertson Trophy, the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp Award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Naismith Award and the Wooden, noticed something different Saturday.

“Today when he got this award was the first time I thought he emotionally connected with all this,” Martelli said.

“Today kind of stopped him. I was pleased for that.”

Nelson received 5,408 points, only 193 more than Emeka Okafor of Connecticut, who might have beaten him out if voting had concluded after the Final Four, where Okafor’s performance led the Huskies to their second NCAA title.

Nelson and Okafor finished more than 2,000 points ahead of the other finalists. Stanford’s Josh Childress was third, Duke’s Chris Duhon was fourth, and Mississippi State’s Lawrence Roberts was fifth.

Although the Wooden Award is the final major award to be presented, voting by the panel of more than 1,000 media members and college basketball experts ended March 29, the day after the conclusion of the regional finals. (Wooden Award officials said the cutoff is necessary to make logistical arrangements for the ceremony, traditionally held the weekend after the Final Four.)

“Jameer Nelson was more than worthy of all the awards he received,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said. “Jameer is an incredible player and a tremendous winner.”

But he gracefully made it clear he’d like to see at least one award that recognized the entire season.

“I know some of the ballots I do have to be in with two weeks left in the season,” Calhoun said. “I’ve got an expression, something I truly believe, that life is not a Polaroid, it’s a motion picture. Let’s make a motion picture sometimes, and not take a Polaroid.”

The other players added their praise for Nelson.

“The things he can do on a court are unbelievable,” Duhon said. “He led a team that was not on the map onto the map.”

Nelson averaged 20.6 points, 5.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 steals this season and finished as St. Joe’s career leader in scoring, assists and steals.

His number will be retired at the team’s upcoming banquet, but he won’t get to throw out the first pitch at the Philadelphia Phillies’ home opener.

“I told them his rotator cuff is messed up,” said Martelli, who will do the honors.

The ceremonies at the L.A. Athletic Club, televised nationally on CBS for the first time, also honored Duke’s Alana Beard, winner of the first women’s Wooden Award, presented Friday in a ceremony at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.

In addition, Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery was honored with the “Legends of Coaching” Award, created to recognize coaches who demonstrate the character and on-court success exemplified by Wooden.

“I got a little emotional because it kind of hit me,” Montgomery said. “I grew up in Southern California with the L.A. Athletic Club and Coach Wooden. Those are things that were out of my reach.”

Wooden likes to tell the story of holding Montgomery in his arms as a baby when Montgomery’s father was an instructor at UCLA.

Montgomery reached the Final Four in 1998 but is only the second coach who hasn’t won a national championship to receive the award. Roy Williams, last season’s winner, is the other.

The other winners -- Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson and Denny Crum -- have eight titles among them.

“You look at the people who have received this award and you don’t really feel like you deserve it,” Montgomery said. “It chokes you up to be the guy.”

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The Vote

The final point totals in voting for the men’s Wooden Award, by more than 1,000 members of the media and college basketball experts who submitted ballots by March 29:

*--* Player Points JAMEER NELSON, Saint Joseph’s 5,408 EMEKA OKAFOR, Connecticut 5,215 JOSH CHILDRESS, Stanford 3,052 CHRIS DUHON, Duke 2,577 LAWRENCE ROBERTS, Miss. St. 2,296

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