Coley tabbed Preseason Player of the Year

It’s usually not a good thing when you hear the phrase “your reputation precedes you.”

But in senior Jerica Coley’s case, it’s a very good thing.

On Monday, Coley was named the 2013-14 Conference USA Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

This is a situation where Coley’s reputation as an All-American, Conference Players of the Year followed her from the Sun Belt Conference all the way to C-USA. Despite the rise in level of competition and the fact that she will be a relatively unknown player to these C-USA coaches, Coley has already found a way into their minds.

How did she do that?

Well, this is where that pristine reputation of hers comes into effect. Coley is a reigning two-time All-American and Conference Player of the Year. She is also fresh off what might of been the best statistical season in FIU women’s basketball history. She led the nation in scoring at a rate of 26.3 points per game en route to breaking the FIU single-season points record with 840 total points.

Need I say more? Probably not, but i will anyway.

In 2012-13, Coley notched 23, 20-plus point games, including 12, 30-plus point outings, scoring a career-high 39 points on two occasions. She currently owns a career scoring average of 21.8 points per game, tied for first all-time at FIU, and a feat she will probably surpass this upcoming season. Coley is also the only player in program history to register 2,000 points, 600 rebounds, 300 assists, and 200 steals in a career.

I’m going to go out on a limb and propose that these C-USA coaches have done a slight bit of research on Coley in their attempts to prepare for the star guard this year. And I’ll take my hat of to the coaches who voted for her, because it take a lot of guts to vote for someone based solely off tapes and hearsay.

But, those tapes and that hearsay are pretty accurate if you ask me. Simply because at this point in her career there’s so much tape and pretty much everyone, including myself, is talking about Coley.

At this point in her decorated career she has scored 2,135 career points, a total which ranks second on the FIU all-time scoring charts. Last year alone she was responsible for 42.9 percent of the Panthers’ offense, and has scored 35.1 percent of FIU’s total points for her career. And to top it all off, in May, Coley was named SBC Female Athlete of the Year, becoming just the second FIU student-athlete to earn the league’s top honor.

Coley’s presence in this new C-USA is so apparent already, that the FIU squad was voted to finish fifth out 15 teams. Now, this team, in my opinion is still underrated, but from the perspective of other C-USA coaches I have to believe that the five spot has largely, if not entirely, to do with the presence of Coley on the team.

Like I said earlier, it’s usually not a good thing when your hear “your reputation precedes you.” But Coley’s reputation has preceded her since she broke out as a fierce competitor and scoring machine her freshman season, and over three years later the awards and accolades haven’t stopped and neither has her success on and off the court.

Jerica Coley earned Preseason Player of the Year honors based of her reputation, but can you blame her? She has one hell of a track record and a knack for staying true to her reputation, which is, of course, a horrible sign for every C-USA opponent she squares off against this season.