2019 GURU AWARDS

We have made it to another year!  As we welcome in 2020 let's take a look back at 2019.  It was a better year for the Arizona teams.  Here are the Second Annual Guru Awards.  This year we have added a category for high school football.

Best Newcomer:
This was an easy choice, the best newcomer to Arizona sports hands down is Cardinals QB Kyler Murray.  He helped the Cardinals improve their win total from a year ago but most importantly he made the Cardinals worth talking about and watching again.  Murray has a bright future ahead of him and will win many more Guru Awards in the years to come.

Best Player:
I came very close to giving this award to Murray as well but I decided to pick a player that wasn’t expected to achieve so early in his tenure in Arizona.  The Guru Award for best player goes to ASU QB Jayden Daniels.  Daniel, just a freshman, threw for 2,943 yards and 17 Td’s with just 2 interceptions, all while leading ASU (8-5) to a Sun Bowl victory In El Paso Texas.

Best Coach:
The Guru Award for best coach goes to Arizona Basketball coach Sean Miller.  Arizona took a huge hit recruiting wise because of the scandal involving one of its assistant coaches.  Miller has claimed innocence the entire time and proved how good a coach he is when he took a very under talented team and led them to a winning season.  The season looked terrible on paper but it did wonders for recruiting and now Miller has Arizona back in the spotlight again.  They are currently ranked 25^th in the nation and sport a 10-3 record.

Best Team:
Let’s keep it in college basketball and award the best team to ASU basketball.  ASU made its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance in March winning the “First Four” game and advancing to the big dance.  They finished the season 23-11 and are off to a 9-3 start this season.

Biggest Disappointment:
The Guru Award goes to Arizona Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim.  Keim has missed on several free agent signings that have cost the Cardinals big time on the field, in particular on the defensive side of the ball.  Keim has not been the same since his DUI in the summer of 2018.  The success of rookie head coach and QB may be the only thing to save his job.  Or at least temporarily.

Biggest Surprise:
By far the biggest surprise in Arizona is the Phoenix Suns.  After finishing 19-63 last season they are off to a 13-21 start.  That is not the surprise, in fact that is not what the award is for.  The Guru Award for biggest surprise goes to center DeAndre Ayton.  Ayton was suspended one game in to the season for using a banned substance, a diuretic.  Ayton missed the next 25 games and has not had much of an impact since returning.  One has to wonder how good the Suns will be when he gets back to his old self.

 Best High School Moment:
This is a new category to the list.  But those of you that read the blog regularly know I cover high school football here in Arizona and could not resist adding it to the list.  This was a hard choice for me and it came down to two big stories and even though I can only chose one I felt they were both worth mentioning.  SO the Guru Award for Best High School Football Moments goes to the South Mountain Jaguars and the Chandler Wolves. 

South Mountain has a few mini stories that pushed it to the award.  They have twin co-head coaches that truly are in South Phoenix to help rebuild a community, and its working.  They were also a part of a docu-series done by the Arizona Republic, another first for the school.  They performed well on the field as well finishing 7-3 and just missing the playoffs.

The Guru Award for Best High School Football Moment also goes to the Chandler Wolves.  Chandler was one of six teams to be chosen for Arizona’s first ever Open Division Championship, putting the state’s best teams no matter the division in one playoff.  Chandler had to beat Chaparral and Salpointe Catholic just to get to national powerhouse Saguaro for the Open Tittle.  The game lived up to its hype and Chandler won 42-35.