[Bigsouthking]

These 12 guys should be All- Conference, but unfortunately 2 will be left out

Sanders
Primm
Dickey
Barbour
Coleman
Griffin
Okoye
Gradnigo
Raffa
Gabriel
A. Jones
K Martin

Player of year probably Dickey

Freshman is Nimley

Coach is radebaugh or Laing, or Eddie.

[Chris Lang]

Disagree on freshman of the year. I think it'll be Trey Freeman in a close nod over Nimley.

Andre Jones played his way out of all-conference consideration in the last month. I doubt any Winthrop player makes it. Raffa or Gradnigo will make it, but not both.

[WinthropEagleFan]

I'm leaning Freeman over Nimley in freshman of the year as well...but it is very close.

No real clear-cut player of the year this season. I think Dickey will get it for being the best player on the best team. I thought Eric Griffin was the frontrunner early on, but his production during the conference season dipped quite a bit (he's still an allconference player, just not player of the year).

[olldflame]

I know he probably won't win because of our slow start, but I have to say that Jesse was POY last season, and he had a MUCH better season statistically this year. In the absense of anyone else having a monster year, I don't know why he shouldn't win it again. Barbour will get some votes. A lot of the BSC voters seem to automatically vote for the leading scorer. Dickey had a nice year, but I'm not sure he is even the best player in his own backcourt.

[From the class of 09]

If we are talking MVP you'd have to say Jesse. We are going to miss him.

[Bigsouthking]

Only reason Sanders won POY last season was because CCU was being investigated and everyone boycotted voting for them...

Clearly Des Holloway was the best player, Chad Gray 2nd best...

. JB may have been LU's best player last season. So it seems by everyone's comments this season so far.

[kingaling42]

There's a big difference in the team finishing 13-5 last year in conference vs maybe a .500 finish this year.. I think Jesse is certainly a good player (& extremely valuable for LU) & no disrespect is intended- but I cannot see him being a serious candidate for POY because team success is also a stat most would consider for player awards..

I think there's five candidates personally..
Dickey is going to be tough to beat out but there is a fair knock because of the other talent UNCA has & whether that cancels out anything I dunno.. mostly because of how he plays & when he hits shots is something that I think will influence voters- the kid is clutch & he is a game changer unlike other UNCA guys- he's more consistent than JP Primm..
Barbour is clearly the best scorer & no one wants to see him in the upcoming tourney.. But HP finished 8-10..
Griffin is probably the most talented in the league but he's been inconsistent & he's foul prone..
Gradnigo is good offensively but he can't defend my grandmother.. If Dickey is subject to other teammate success then Raffa also takes away from Gradnigo..
Okoye has great numbers scorings/rebounding etc.. VMI is also 8-10 though

[olldflame]

Hard to argue that Holloway was the best player last year. I would dispute Gray being second best. You can certainly argue that Jesse won by default.

I think Raffa deserves consideration. Can't believe you even mentioned Grandingo bsk.

Argument for Jesse this year would be his sheer stat-stuffing numbers and his role in leading the team back from the poor start, especially if we close it out with a win tonight.

Needless to say, the award I really want to see Jesse win this year is TOURNAMENT MVP!

[kingaling42]

2011-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE

First-Team All-Conference
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Nick Barbour, G, Sr., High Point
Jesse Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Kelvin Martin, F, Sr., Charleston Southern
Eric Griffin, F, Sr., Campbell (tie)
Al'Lonzo Coleman, F, R-Sr., Presbyterian College (tie)

Second-Team All-Conference
J.P. Primm, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Stan Okoye, F, Jr., VMI
Anthony Raffa, G, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
Darren White, G, Jr., Campbell
Chris Gradnigo, F, R-Sr., Coastal Carolina

All-Freshman Team
Trey Freeman, G, Campbell
Saah Nimley, G, Charleston Southern
Arlon Harper, G, Charleston Southern
R.J. Price, G, Radford
Javonte Green, F, Radford

All-Academic Team
Sam McLaurin, F, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
Mike Byron, C, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Landon Harris, F, Jr., High Point
Jesse Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Jay Reynolds, C, Jr., Presbyterian College
Tolga Cerrah, F, R-Soph., Radford
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Stan Okoye, F, Jr., VMI

Player of the Year
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville

Freshman of the Year
Trey Freeman, G, Campbell

Defensive Player of the Year
Kelvin Martin, F, Sr., Charleston Southern

Coach of the Year
Barclay Radebaugh, Charleston Southern

The fifth player in Big South history with 400 career rebounds and 400 career assists, Dickey received nine first-place votes and 188 total points from the panel, ahead of High Point's Nick Barbour (three first-place votes and 158 points) and Liberty's Jesse Sanders (three first-place votes and 148 total points).

...

Radebaugh received seven first-place votes and 43 total points, edging out UNC Asheville's Eddie Biedenbach (11 first-place votes and 40 total points).

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArtic ... =205387595

[jbock13]

Barclay Radebaugh?

Wow.

[kdinva]

Sorry, one of the biggest screw jobs this century by not having Gabriel on 2nd team, at least. Although most of the other 11 deserve the recognition, too. Congrats to them. And a tip of the hat to Jesse Sanders, a whale of a career.

FYI; for those who say VMI runs that "gimmick" offense, VMI toned it down some, they have a team scoring average of only 81.1 ppg, and UNCA has scored at an 80.7 clip so far. Yet, no one says UNCA "runs and runs", either. Granted, VMI's team shooting pct. this season not as good as recent seasons.

Just go to the Conf. basketball stats page, and see where Gabriel is listed. #2 scorer, #3 blocked shots and steals, #2 in 3's made per game.........

Oh, one more stat that shocked me........Best average attendance/home game.........not UNCA or Liberty or Winthrop.........VMI the only one to average more than 2,000 per home date.......

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/fls/4800/ ... nfldrs.htm

[kingaling42]

Gabriel is a very good player with solid numbers; there's no doubt about it- I think you have to consider it difficult to have 2 guys from a below .500 team in an All-Conference selection & given the other players in the league.. numbers are great but team wins are still quite valuable.. so do you put Gabriel over Okoye? I wouldn't personally.. No knock on Gabriel- he's been one of my favorite conference guys to watch over the years, especially some of his hustle plays (blocks in particular)- I just don't think he's in the top 10-11 is all..

[olldflame]

8 seniors and 2 juniors. Lots of room for young players to make a name for themselves next year. I agree about Gabriel. Nice player, but I just don't see justification for 2 players from that VMI team in the top 10. No way he should be ahead of Raffa or Primm IMHO. Maybe White or Gradnigo, but they played for winning teams.

[Bigsouthking]

When voting for these awards you should consider the players WHOLE body of work. Not just what they do against your favorite team.

[olldflame]

2011-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE

First-Team All-Conference
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Nick Barbour, G, Sr., High Point
Jesse Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Kelvin Martin, F, Sr., Charleston Southern
Eric Griffin, F, Sr., Campbell (tie)
Al'Lonzo Coleman, F, R-Sr., Presbyterian College (tie)

Second-Team All-Conference
J.P. Primm, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Stan Okoye, F, Jr., VMI
Anthony Raffa, G, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
Darren White, G, Jr., Campbell
Chris Gradnigo, F, R-Sr., Coastal Carolina

All-Freshman Team
Trey Freeman, G, Campbell
Saah Nimley, G, Charleston Southern
Arlon Harper, G, Charleston Southern
R.J. Price, G, Radford
Javonte Green, F, Radford

All-Academic Team
Sam McLaurin, F, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
Mike Byron, C, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Landon Harris, F, Jr., High Point
Jesse Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Jay Reynolds, C, Jr., Presbyterian College
Tolga Cerrah, F, R-Soph., Radford
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Stan Okoye, F, Jr., VMI

Player of the Year
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville

Freshman of the Year
Trey Freeman, G, Campbell

Defensive Player of the Year
Kelvin Martin, F, Sr., Charleston Southern

Coach of the Year
Barclay Radebaugh, Charleston Southern

The fifth player in Big South history with 400 career rebounds and 400 career assists, Dickey received nine first-place votes and 188 total points from the panel, ahead of High Point's Nick Barbour (three first-place votes and 158 points) and Liberty's Jesse Sanders (three first-place votes and 148 total points).

...

Radebaugh received seven first-place votes and 43 total points, edging out UNC Asheville's Eddie Biedenbach (11 first-place votes and 40 total points).

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArtic ... =205387595

The COY numbers indicate that a lot of voters must have left Biedenbach completely off the ballot, which IMHO is silly. You can do the best coaching job in history, but if your team is favored going into the season, a lot of people just won't give you props. Layer won last year because the team exceeded expectations. Same with Barcley this year, and pretty much every coaching award ever given out anywhere.

[truthorconsequences]

Eddie should be coach of the year. he recruited the talent and won the league. You should be able to get 4th place one in 4-5 years with 13 scholarships. Congrats to Jesse Sanders!

[Bigsouthking]

Nick Barbour has been the most over hyped player in BSC history according to votes.... He scores 44 his last game and is 2nd in voting... Look at the rest of his numbers--- he has NEVER been on a winning team, doesn't rebound, defend, or get assists like other players...

Darren white season has went down the hill considering how he started.

Big South sucks off HP like they did when Danny Gathings got MVP over Blair. Joke.

I agree with KDinVA about Gabriel's overall numbers compared to others, but if you choose only one player from VMI it has to be Okoye.

Again Coastal kids were screwed some. Cheating cloud hangs over them IMO.

Coaching award is a joke, most years they give it to #1 seed others they give to whoever.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

I give up.

[kingaling42]

Bigsouthking- if you are really considering BSC history- somehow you have forgotten about Jack Leasure from Coastal from a few years back.. if you're upset about Barbour being 1st team- consider that Leasure had very similar career numbers in scoring as Barbour & won the POY as a sophomore..

Barbour isn't overrated, you may not like him- however, you don't score over 2,000 points & pass up Arizona Reid in your school's history if you aren't pretty darn good.. is he a complete player, absolutely not & there's much to be desired defensively, rebounding, & assist wise- he's a scorer. Period.

I think he will get some looks after his college career (i.e. Portsmouth Invitational or the like)- not saying he'll make it at all in the NBA but he is offensively skilled as it gets & as a lefty will draw some interest from scouts.. he'll definitely have a pro career somewhere. Especially shooting nearly 50% from 3 pt land in a season and over 40% for his college career..

[Bigsouthking]

Kingaling --

My point is every year Nick barbour this and Barbour that... he has 2 great games that gets every warm and fuzzy... if you are half way good then you can score when you shoot 40 times a game... he deserves to be All Conference NO Doubt, but he doen't deserve to be top 3 in votes and pre season POY like last season.... kelvin Martin carried his team more than Nick barbour did, Teams that win should get more of the awards.

[jcmanson]

2 many kings in this thread

[WinthropEagleFan]

Unless you're like the parent of a player, who really cares about individual awards?

I find it interesting to see how it turns out, but i never care enough to get up in arms about it. As for Barbour...remember that coaches vote in this thing, and i'm guessing based on what i see/hear coaches say, that he is one of the most feared players in the league...they all know he is one of the few guys that is capable of singlehandedly beating you, so i'm sure that goes a long way toward him getting recognized in these sorts of things.

[olldflame]

Barbour had a great year. In the past he has scored based on being what is euphamistically called a "volume shooter." This year he has actually shot a good %, and especially from 3. He doesn't play any D, and HP had a disappointing year. Otherwise I might have picked him POY over Dickey. He had a better year as an individual, and this is, in fact an individual award.

[Bigsouthking]

Nick Barbour. 2-17 tonight. Yeah like I said over hyped and thought too highly of by average fans.

[kingaling42]

Guarded by the POY tonight too if you were watching.

Hey Captain I-told you-so: Weren't you the one talking about don't judge him by '1-2 good games'- I would think the same thing would stand for one less than average game as well..

I'm glad UNCA never has to play against him & so are all the coaches in the league regardless of your viewpoint. It's not like any other LU player was slighted by Barbour's placement on the all-conference squad so I'm not sure why the beef with him any more..

Chances are Barbour's going to make more money than most average college basketball players somewhere as well next year regardless of how you or I feel about him..

In another light- it was tough to see some of the seniors that finished their college careers tonight- especially Jesse Sanders- as an opposing fan it was always good to see how he played the game.. it's a tough feeling right now for him but hope he & the others keep their heads up- they have a lot to be proud of over their careers.. Jesse was dealt a pretty crummy deal with all the stuff up there over 4 years- to play through it the right way & not let all the off-the-court stuff get in the way is an even bigger accomplishment & testament to his character. Seems like a great young man & ambassador for your program. I wish him & the other seniors well.