Congratulations to UMass women’s basketball center Jennifer Butler for being named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year and earning a spot on the all-conference first-team. Those are impressive accomplishments, and the recognition her play has brought to the school and the women’s hoop program has been tremendous.

But let’s all be completely honest here: Butler was completely hosed Wednesday night at the conference’s banquet. It was at that event in Newport, R.I., held just 24 hours before UMass would open its postseason with a first round game against La Salle on Thursday, that the A-10 announced its end-of-season awards.

And Jen was screwed over.

Sure, she was awarded the above honors, as well as a spot on the all-defensive team, but Jennifer Butler was the best player in the Atlantic 10 this season, and she clearly deserved the Player of the Year Award. Instead, the conference bestowed it upon George Washington guard/forward Cathy Joens, who is a great player, but not nearly as good as Butler.

Clearly, the conference’s coaches have a different idea of what constitutes being a player of the year means.

As I understand it, the best player in the conference, the one who has had the best season, is the player of the year.

That’s Butler. There is little doubt of this.

Let’s pull a roto-geek move and look at the statistics:

Joens is a scorer, ranking No. 2 in the conference with 17.9 points per game. The Irvine, Calif. native is also good for 3.37 assists (12th in the conference), 2.07 steals (seventh) and five rebounds (outside top 20) per game. As a perimeter player, Joens has managed just one blocked shot all year, but otherwise, those aren’t bad stats in what are considered the big five categories.

However, they pale in comparison to Butler, who recorded a league-high 23 double-doubles in 2003. UMass’ senior center is right behind Joens in scoring with 17 ppg. She led the entire nation in rebounding at 14.4 per game while leading the A-10 with 2.41 steals. Butler was also good for 1.3 blocks (fifth in the conference) and 1.8 assists.

It is clear Butler put up far better numbers than Joens this season. And the coaches even admitted she was the best defensive player in the conference. So why, then, was Butler so ridiculously overlooked by the A-10?

Because Joens plays on a better team.

Joens suits up for the Colonials, which ran up a 21-6 overall record, including an impressive 15-1 conference record heading into last night’s postseason tournament.

Butler, meanwhile, plays for UMass, which has struggled mightily since its point guard and 3-point threat Katie Nelson went down with a knee injury in late January. The team, which started out 8-1, finished the year 3-7 after Nelson went down with the season-ending injury.

So how much sense does that make? It isn’t the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Best Player on the Best Team Award – that would clearly go to Joens. It isn’t even the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Most Valuable Player Award – which would at least garner a debate regarding a team’s success. This is the conference’s Player of the Year Award, so give it to the best darn player in the A-10.

This isn’t the first time the Atlantic 10 coaches have missed the boat on Butler. Last year, No. 21 led the conference in rebounding with 11.8 per game (fifth in the nation) and placed ninth in scoring at 13.2 points per game. She also placed second in the conference in blocked shots and fifth in steals. But, somehow, the coaches couldn’t find a spot for her on the All-Conference first team. Instead, one of the two or three most dominating players in the A-10 last season was relegated to the second team – a nice feat, but Butler deserved more.

It isn’t even just Butler who was overlooked last year by the A-10 coaches. Then-freshman Katie Nelson was, incredibly, left off the conference’s All-Rookie Team. This despite she took command of the starting point guard spot from day one, playing over 36 minutes per game and having the second highest scoring average (9.3 ppg) on her team as well as among rookies in the A-10.

For some reason, the coaches seem to disregard what happens in Amherst as being on par with the rest of the conference. How else could they look at these numbers and these players and not see what would be blatantly obvious to any rational person?

Whatever the reason for the snub, Jen Butler is definitely the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year to those who aren’t affiliated with any rival team.

Congratulations Jen, on a great season and a great career.

Jim Pignatiello is a Collegian Columnist.