Who Says Conference USA Is Not Very Deep?

Everyone says that Memphis plays in a conference where talent doesn't stretch very far, but we did assume that the talent at least stretched farther than Memphis's own bench.

The Tigers cleaned up in the Conference USA end of season awards this week, with John Calipari winning Coach of the Year, Tyreke Evans getting Freshman of the Year, and Antonio Anderson nailing down Defensive Player of the Year. But a more curious choice went to Wesley Witherspoon, who won Sixth Man of the Year despite missing six games due to knee surgery and averaging a whopping four points and 2.2 rebounds in the games he actually played in.

Witherspoon himself seemed unimpressed, reportedly telling Fox News:

"Yeah, it was a huge surprise. To be honest, I don't even deserve it. But I'll take it."

Maybe Witherspoon didn't deserve the accolade, but it turns out that he was the only player nominated. Apparently, no other team in the conference has a single reserve player worthy of sticking into a game for some quality minutes.

But seriously, the played some very tough games.

Memphis Tigers Dominate C-USA Awards [Fox Memphis] Herd's Pitts earns frosh honor; Calipari worried? [The Charleston Gazette] Memphis in league of its own as C-USA tourney begins [Houston Chronicle]