America East Award Time

After and extensive and exhausting season, here are my humble conference awards. I don’t claim to have all the answers, and this is just one man’s (educated) opinion, but I have seen every team close to a half dozen times live this year, and been to over 70 America East games, so here it goes:

Player of the Year Candidates:

• D.J. Rivera, G/F Binghamton: 20.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1 apg, 1.8 stl (19.7ppg, 6.1rpg in conference games)
• John Holland, G/F BU: 18 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.8 stl (20.5ppg, 6.2rpg in conference games)
• Darryl Proctor, F UMBC: 20 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.4 stl (20.9ppg, 8.3rpg in conference games)
• Marqus Blakely, F Vermont: 15.7 ppg, 9 rpg, 2.8 bpg, 2.6 apg, 1.9 stl (15.6ppg, 9.1rpg in conference games)

To me, the Player of the Year award is exactly what the name indicates: The best player in the conference. There is no “Best player for the best team” debate like there is in Major League Baseball. No favoritism should be given to upper classmen, nor should transfers be punished. The award should go to the player who has the best season, end of story. All four of the candidates had superb seasons, and a compelling case can be made for all four.

However, I believe Holland’s season was notch below the seasons of Rivera, Proctor, and Blakely for two reasons, the first being that while the other three are all stellar defenders, Holland is still only mediocre. This might seem like a crazy statement to many fans of the America East, but if you talk to BU head coach Dennis Wolff, and coaches around the league, Holland still has some glaring weaknesses in his defensive game, as for all of his steals (and subsequent spectacular fast-break dunks), and all the havoc he can wreak at the top of the 1-3-1 zone, he still gets burned often by his man, or simply winds up lost on the defensive end. Holland has had far too many stretches this season when he has actually hurt the Terriers on the defensive end. Furthermore, Holland’s three game stretch against Vermont, Binghamton, and Stony Brook (three games that came directly after BU grabbed hold of and then lost 1st place in the division), can not be overlooked. During the three biggest games of the year for BU, Holland simply did not show up. He might have put up decent numbers (14, 11, and 19 points), but he shot very poorly, was lost on defense, and didn’t play with any direction or urgency.

That leaves Blakely, Rivera, and Proctor, all three of whom had phenomenal seasons in different ways. Blakely was the best defensively out of the three – and flat out best defender in the conference – controlling the defensive glass, and coming up with monster rejections and steals, and also faced double and triple teams every single night on the offensive end. Blakely also played very unselfishly, taking only ten shots a night, while turning into an excellent passer. However, some cracks became apparent in Blakely’s game, namely his inability to score anywhere outside of 5-7 feet from the basket. As dominant as he was, teams we’re able to stop Blakely this season by keeping him away from the basket. Often it took the rest of the Catamounts hitting their shots and occupying the defense to get Blakely going again. Furthermore, Blakely has Mike Trimboli and Colin McIntosh playing alongside of him. And maybe I’m a bit biased, but I feel like the player of the year is the one guy who you want the ball in their hands taking the big shot with the game on the line, and I’m not convinced that Marqus Blakely is that guy. Make no mistake, Blakely puts his team first and plays hard, but it’s also hard to overlook the murmurs that were coming from within the UVM program that Blakely was at times coasting during games this year, and “buying into his own hype” a bit.

Rivera has been tremendous in his first season for Binghamton, the best player for the leagues 1st place team, he has been an unstoppable offensive weapon, and a terrific perimeter defender and bundle of energy. But Rivera is a slasher and likes to hang on the perimeter for periods on offense, and defenses can’t double and triple him, or focus on stopping him as much as they can with Perimeter players like they do with Proctor and Blakely, and Rivera has had hot-shooting Tiki Mayben occupying some of the defenses attention. And it’s impossible to ignore Rivera’s behavior in Binghamton’s big home loss to Boston University, in which he left the bench and the floor, and tried to leave the arena; not the behavior of a player of the year.

Player of the Year: Darryl Proctor

Proctor had the best season an America East player has had since Taylor Coppenrath in 2004-2005. he might have taken 17 shots a night, but no one in the league faced more defensive pressure and focus than Proctor. No one played with more intensity, determination, and pure guts every night, and none of the other three candidates went in to battle with a weaker supporting cast than Proctor, whom at times seemed like he was taking on his opponents on his own. Proctor has faced the same double (and triple) teams as Blakely, and unlike Blakely he doesn’t have a Trimboli, McIntosh, or Maurice Joseph to take some of the pressure off of him, or kick the ball out to when he gets swarmed. Proctor has scored in double figures in every single game that he has played this season, the only player in the conference to accomplish such a feat. And no one in the league leaves as much of themselves on the court as Proctor, whom takes an absolute beating nightly while leading the league in minutes per game (he averaged 40.2 in league contests). Proctor has been rushed to the hospital more than once after games this season. Proctor is also a terrific defender, and arguably second only to Blakely when it comes to low post defense in the conference. Proctor doesn’t put up flashy numbers on the defensive end, but his basketball IQ, strength, and positioning are the best in the America East. Proctor may not block many shots, or come up with a ton of steals, but he cuts off lanes to the hoop, and flusters and bulls his man out of the post and into positions where he can’t score (see his game against Blakely in last years America East Tournament). When you boil it down, there isn’t a single weakness to Proctor’s game, offensively, defensively, effort, leadership, and pure guts; he gets top marks across the board, and that’s why he should be the Player of the Year.

Rookie of the Year: Tommy Brenton, Stony Brook

As “sexy” as Jake O’Brien’s scoring and shooting numbers have been, and as mouth watering as Chauncey Gilliam’s raw athleticism and potential are, Tommy Brenton is the hands-down Rookie of the Year. Brenton has a heart the size of a basketball, fights like Darryl Proctor and jumps like John Holland. Several Rookies have averaged more points than Brenton this season, but no rookie in the conference has played a larger roll for the squad, and no rookie has flat out won more games for his team than Brenton, and Brenton is the only rookie to have dominated games this year. O’Brien is a terrific shooter, but he has been allowed to range around the perimeter because he is playing next to John Holland and Corey Lowe. O’Brien is a distant third priority on opponent’s defensive game-plans. And as flashy as Gilliam is, and granted his mid and long-range game has come on at the end of the year, he has done a lot of his damage mopping up around the hoop while Proctor occupies half of the other team: He’s been able to roam free while defenses focus on Proctor and Jay Greene. Brenton has flat out DOMINATED the glass and the defensive end, and he is the one Rookie whom has shown up for every single game of the year. Brenton has taken hellacious elbows from the likes of Hasheen Thabeet, Jeff Adrien, as well as Brian Connelly and Matt Wolff, and he just keeps on fighting. He is far and away the best rookie defender in the league. And unlike O’Brien and Gilliam, whom can hide behind and “draft off” their star teammates so to speak, Brenton takes the leading role for Stony Brook on the glass and on defense. Brenton doesn’t grab rebounds because his teammates occupy opponents and clear the lane for him; he occupies half the opposing roster AND THEN still comes down with the tough rebounds in traffic, and it’s Brenton who’s assigned one-on-one coverage against the biggest, toughest, most athletic, and most physical player on the other team, being assigned the likes of Darryl Proctor, D.J. Rivera, Marqus Blakely, and Will Harris nightly. And that is why Brenton is the Rookie of the Year: He doesn’t score like O’Brien or Gilliam (yet), but he has a far larger impact night in and night out on the game, as no rookie has put his team on his back and won more games than Brenton.

Defensive Player of the Year: Marqus Blakely, Vermont

No explanation here is necessary. Blakely is leading the conference in Blocks and Steals, and is second (to Brenton) in defensive rebounding. End of story.

Coach of the Year: Steve Pikiell, Stony Brook

Make no mistake, Dennis Wolff deserves a lot of credit for guiding Boston University to a third place finish after the Terriers suffered season ending injuries to key players, and battled “internal-issues” at times during the season, but Wolff has the duo of Corey Lowe and John Holland, as potent a 1-2 punch as there is in the conference. Binghamton’s Kevin Broadus also warrants consideration, as the Bearcats claimed a share of the regular season title, and the top seed in the conference tournament, for the first time in school history. But Broadus had the luxury of being allowed to bring in a compilation of extremely talented transfers with plenty of division I experience. No other administration or athletic department in the league would have allowed the quartet of D.J. Rivera, Malik Alvin, Tiki Mayben, and Theo Davis to transfer in during the same calendar year (that’s a fact whether Binghamton fans like it or not). New Hampshire’s Bill Herrion also deserves some consideration considering how bad the Wildcat’s have been for what seems like and eternity. But Pikiell is the runaway winner.

It is absolutely jaw dropping to consider that before this season the Seawolves not only had never had a winning season at the Division I level, but they never had one at the DII level, nor in their last ten years at Division III. In his first three seasons on Long Island, Pikiell had led Stony Brook to a winning percentage below 30 percent, as he was handicapped by NCAA sanctions stripping Stony Brook of scholarships (sanctions attributed to the previous coaching regime). Pikiell started four first year players this season (3 true freshmen and a 1st year JuCo transfer) alongside a walk-on, and lead Stony Brook to a tie for 4th place, and the greatest season in Stony Brook history. No team exceeded expectations as much as the Seawolves (picked in almost every single preseason prediction and coaches poll to finish either last or 2nd to last). And it wasn’t because the chips fell just right, or he was dealt a great hand: Pikiell had to overcome the loss of center Desmond Adedeji, whom was not only written in as the Seawolves starting center, but also as the focal point and “go to” player on offense. He also had to overcome the loss of Jonathan Moore, penciled in as the starting 2-guard, as well as the personal tragedy of guard Chris Martin. Pikiell pulled together a team with eight new faces and no tradition of winning and turned them into contenders, as the Seawolves took the top three teams in the league into overtime, and look like they could make serious noise in the America East tournament.

First Team All-Conference:

• D.J. Rivera, G/F Binghamton
• John Holland, G/F BU
• Darryl Proctor, F UMBC
• Marqus Blakely, F Vermont
• Mike Trimboli, G Vermont

Second Team All-Conference

• Tiki Maybe, G Binghamton
• Corey Lowe, G BU
• Tyrece Gibbs, G UNH
• Jay Greene, G UMBC
• Muhammad El-Amin, Stony Brook

Third Team All-Conference

• Tim Ambrose, G Albany
• Will Harris, F Albany
• Michael Turner, G/F Hartford
• Tommy Brenton, F Stony Brook
• Colin McIntosh, F Vermont

All-Rookie Team:

• Jake O’Brien, F BU
• Gerald McLemore, G Maine
• Chauncey Gilliam, F UMBC
• Tommy Brenton, F Stony Brook
• Brian Dougher, G Stony Brook

All-Defensive Team:

• Matt Wolff, BU
• Darryl Proctor, UMBC
• Tommy Brenton, Stony Brook
• Marques Cox, Stony Brook
• Marqus Blakely, Vermont

All-Floorburn Team:

No one in the league plays harder, or sacrifices more of their body, or their safety, than these five do on a nightly basis.

• Matt Wolff, BU
• Michael Turner, Hartford
• Dane DiLiegro, UNH
• Darryl Proctor, UMBC
• Tommy Brenton, Stony Brook
• Marqus Cox, Stony Brook

All-High-Risers/Rim-Rattlers:

The Best in-game dunkers in the conference

• D.J. Rivera, Binghamton
• John Holland, BU
• Chauncey Gilliam, UMBC
• Dane DiLiegro UNH
• Tommy Brenton, Stony Brook
• Marqus Blakely, Vermont