A Big Winner Is at a Loss

The wheelchair belonged to the 23-year-old winner of the award, not the 89-year-old coach for whom that award is named.

And the biggest smile belonged to one of the runner-ups.

It was cruel, almost, this 24th presentation of the John R. Wooden Award.

Another reminder of just how fleeting and fickle college athletics can be. Four years of trying can be wiped out in only 40 minutes. Or even one bad step.

And the more we recognize Kenyon Martin’s value, the more we realize just how much was taken from him.

The player of the year didn’t get to play when it mattered most.

A snapped bone in his lower right leg decided that. In the early minutes of a game, in the early stages of March, Martin’s college career ended.

And so on the first Monday in April, Martin watched the way it could have gone. He saw Michigan State senior guard Mateen Cleaves, who, like Martin, had come back to school for one more shot at an NCAA championship, cut down the nets.

“I was happy for him,” Martin said. “I just wish that I could have played against him.”

Just the chance. That’s all ballplayers want. They always figure their skills will take care of the rest.

With Martin, Cincinnati was the top-ranked team and the favorite to win the national championship.

Without him, the Bearcats lost to St. Louis in the first round of the Conference USA tournament, drew a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost to Tulsa in the second round of the South Regional.

Martin did make it to Indianapolis, site of this year’s Final Four. But it was only to pick up an award. He was in the hotel room packing suitcases with his fiancee, Fatimah Conley, when he turned on the championship game late in the second half.

“When he saw it, all he said was, ‘That should be me,’ ” Conley said. “And he turned the TV off.

“He came back because he wanted to carry the team to a championship.”

You hear players cite the fear of injury as one reason for leaving school early to head to the pros.

That’s not the risk. Injuries heal, and medical advances have made that a nonissue. Martin knew the night he broke his leg that it wouldn’t affect his status as a potential No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

The risk is devoting a whole year to one last shot at the championship and not getting it. A ball bounces the wrong way in a one-loss tournament. You come up short. No more chances.

Those thoughts were in Martin’s head when he was hurt.

“That was the biggest thing,” Martin said. “That my college career was over.”

Cleaves could have suffered Martin’s fate very easily. That occurred to him when he went to the floor in the second half of the championship game against Florida, his right ankle badly sprained.

“I thought about [Martin],” Cleaves said. “I thought ‘Oh my God, you can get this far and have to go out like this.’ ”

The ankle sprain didn’t cost Cleaves the game or the championship.

Although he still walked with a limp around the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, at least he didn’t need to alternate between crutches and a wheelchair, as Martin did.

Martin probably couldn’t beat Wooden one on one right now.

And he definitely couldn’t top Cleaves in a smiling contest on this day. Wooden loved that the award winner was a senior who bypassed the pros. But if there was an inspiration for other players, it was Cleaves. Juniors, such as Duke forward Shane Battier, want to be like him, not Martin.

Battier said he made his decision to come back before the tournament started. But after Duke’s loss to Florida in the regional semifinals, watching Cleaves win the championship reaffirmed Battier’s choice.

“It lit my fire,” said Battier, one of the top four finalists for the Wooden Award. “Now that I’ve accomplished a lot individually, I’m no longer worried about proving myself. I’m trying to make sure my last game ends up in cutting the nets.”

Now that Cleaves has won a national title, he doesn’t have to pretend that he would be just as happy with any other result.

“Nah, it wouldn’t have been that special,” he said. “A lot of people have won conference championships. A lot of people have even been to the Final Four.

But very few have won national championships. That’s something no one can ever take from me. To be a national champion, that separates you, that makes you elite. That’s something I’m very proud of. I couldn’t have went out a better way.”

Conley was asked if her future husband would trade his award for Cleaves’ championship net.

“In a second,” she said. “He would trade this. He won the Naismith, he would trade that. I would even go so far as to say he would trade the No. 1 pick.”

Said Martin, “That’s the best way to go out . . . on top.

“It didn’t script out like that. I just have to get over it.”

Martin’s senior season wasn’t a waste. Already a defensive terror, the 6-foot-8 Martin demonstrated a mid-range jumper that elevated his draft position.

Which means he could wind up with the Clippers, who will most likely be looking to replace power forward Maurice Taylor.

What has he done to deserve all that?

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.