I’ve always wondered where the All-Star break has been in college athletics. There’s no bye week, no All-Star games that provide study or relaxation time, no chance for the body to get a little rest and catch up before the various conference and league
tournaments begin.
It wouldn’t hurt for the NCAA to take a look at implementing one, but no one knows how far that would get with the possibility of a dollar or two lost at the expense of the athlete.
Little 500 week is a break from academic rigor for many students. Athletes, on the other hand, don’t have this luxury. They lack a certain All-Star break that the pros enjoy. With this being as close to the All-Star break as we’ll get in the days of 9 p.m. start times for the sake of TV revenues, here’s my IU All-Star team at midyear.
Alex Dickerson: The junior has hit four dingers and notched a .364 batting average while contributing to the baseball team’s 20-11 record (4-2 in the Big Ten). The reigning Big Ten MVP is a guy that can do it all and carry IU when the pitching has its off days. Dickerson can expect to be playing in a certain other league that does have an All-Star break in the near future.
David Erdy: Erdy’s second-place finish at the adidas Hoosier Invitational this past weekend helped IU capture its third consecutive win in its host-invite. Erdy, who competed in the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, finished at 3-under while securing his third top-five finish of this season. Erdy has the lowest average on the IU golf team, shooting a 72.19.
Sara Olson: The senior pitcher and utility player has hit seven home runs and knocked 27 RBI. Olson has a .989 fielding percentage to go along with a .364 batting average for the IU softball team, which begins the final stretch of its season at 4-2 in the Big Ten.
Isade Juneau: Juneau has come into his own during his sophomore year for the men’s tennis team. Juneau has won a combined 36 matches already this season, as the Hoosiers sit atop the Big Ten standings at 7-0. As a singles player, he’s 21-9 and 9-1 in his last 10 matches. Juneau is the x-factor for IU with the Big Ten Tournament a little more than two weeks away.
Leslie Hureau: Hureau is another diaper-dandy and versatile athlete on the clay for the Hoosiers. The sophomore has won a combined 44 matches to date and is 22-8 as a singles player.
MVP: Derek Drouin: Last March the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Drouin its National Field Athlete of the Year. The first Big Ten athlete in history to win the award, Drouin cleared 7 to 7.75 feet to break the all-time Big Ten record. His feat earned him his third NCAA championship in as many years and his second-straight indoor title.