Who should be ACC player of the year?

Jason Williams does just about everything. He's a leader. Although Williams is always active vocally and always the first to huddle up his teammates, he is the team's tone setter, leading by his actions more than his words. He's a scrapper. Take Sunday's game against Carolina. Late in the contest, the outcome already decided, Williams dove to the floor for a loose ball, wrestled it away from sprawled out Tar Heels, and called a quick timeout. He leapt off the court and raced over to the bench, the fire still in his eyes. He's unselfish. All season long, Williams has shown an increasing ability and willingness to find open teammates on the floor, usually fitting passes into the tightest of lanes, like the way he found Matt Christensen wide open under the hoop for a dunk on senior day. He's a scorer. Williams scored over 20 points in 17 games this season, and dropped at least 30 points in four games. He finds unique ways to get the job done and is a threat from anywhere on the court. He's unquestionably the conference player of the year, the national player of the year and possibly the most versatile guard the conference has ever seen. Okay, so maybe Williams can't take home the ACC's top honor just yet. Maryland's Juan Dixon will certainly receive a lot of consideration, especially with the way the Terps secured the regular season conference crown. But just about everything Dixon did this season, Williams did a little bit better. As predicted, both guards finished one-two in conference scoring, with Williams at 21.9 a game and Dixon a bucket behind at 19.5. But statistically, that's about as close as the two stars get. Against ranked opponents, Williams' average soars to 24.9, while Dixon's stumbles to 17.9. Dixon holds the slight edge in steals, which earned him a third consecutive All-ACC defensive team selection, but Williams betters Dixon in assists, three-point field goals made and three-point percentage. Numbers, of course, only tell half the story. Williams' beautiful blend of outside prowess and strength off the dribble this season make it nearly impossible for other teams to defend him. "I think I can mix it up a lot more," Williams said. "This year I can really drive the ball a lot better, and I can also get to the middle and pull up my mid-range jumper," he said. More than anything, Williams possesses the incredible ability to completely change the landscape of a game, even when his shots aren't necessarily dropping. The Blue Devils had no answer for Kentucky Dec. 17 until Williams took the game into his hands, scoring 23 of the team's last 31 points. It got to the point that everyone knew that when a ball left his fingertips, it was finding nothing but net. At home against Maryland, Williams torched the Terps' defense, mostly off the dribble for 34 points, helping the Blue Devils run away with the game in the second half. Dixon, meanwhile, was held to only 10 points. Against N.C. State in Raleigh, Williams was struggling all night with his shot. But Mike Dunleavy wasn't, and in a key stretch in the first half, Williams did everything to find his teammate, and Duke stretched its lead. Williams finished with 11 assists. There were three occasions this season when Williams wasn't able to sway the game completely in Duke's favor, but he never stopped trying. While the lethargic Blue Devils struggled against Florida State, Williams provided just about everything he had in the second half, drilling three-pointer after three-pointer to bring his team back into the game. Then at Maryland, with Duke trailing by double digits for much of the game, Williams hit two consecutive three-pointers and assisted on a Daniel Ewing three-point play with eight minutes left to give the Blue Devils a glimmer of hope. And then at Virginia, even though Williams was unable to get anything going the entire game, he was the one with the ball in the final minute, reeling off seven points, before the Cavaliers held on for the upset. Dixon does thrive from the free throw line, Williams' one weakness. But does that make Dixon more of a clutch player than Williams? Not necessarily. Williams isn't perfect, but no superstar ever has been. But even at his worst, Williams gives his team a chance to win. This isn't always the case for Dixon. With the Terps reeling at Cameron, Dixon never got anything going, and never gave his team a chance to win. He's their best player, but he only managed nine shots. Juan Dixon is an incredible player, and definitely deserving of All-America honors, and in any other year he would easily be the ACC player of the year. But Jason Williams is just too good, too much of the time.