Tuesday the Atlantic 10 released their conference awards to some debate and much celebration. Richmond’s TJ Cline took home the top player award, winning 2017 A-10 Player of the Year, an honor that like every first, second and third team honor, came with some debate.
So I figured I’d take the debate out of the awards season and release this year’s list of the top Atlantic 10 players based off their player efficiency ratings.
In short, PER was developed to take advanced stats (both offensive and defensive) and boil them all down to one number that is meant to give us an idea of just how good a player is. You can see if the numbers test below matches your eye test.
Disclaimer: I made players who played at least 20 games eligible, meaning Shavar Newkirk and his awesome 27.2 PER in just 12 games disqualified him from this year’s awards.
PER PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Hassan Martin (Rhode Island)
PER FIRST TEAM
Hassan Martin 28.9
TJ Cline 25.5
Peyton Aldridge 25.2
Jaylen Adams 25.1
Justin Tillman 25
PER SECOND TEAM
Marquise Moore 24.3
Kendall Pollard 24.2
Rashaan Holloway 23.3
Jack Gibbs 23
Tyler Cavanaugh 23
PER THIRD TEAM
Charles Cooke 22.2
JeQuan Lewis 21
Jalen Jenkins 20.9
BJ Johnson 20.9
Mo Alie-Cox 20.8
Only three players made this list that didn’t make the official A-10 first, second or third teams. UMass’ Rashaan Holloway, George Mason’s Jalen Jenkins and La Salle’s BJ Johnson gave a friendly bump to Rhody’s E.C. Matthews (17.2), Richmond’s ShawnDre’ Jones (18.5) and Dayton’s Scoochie Smith (19.6), right out of the top-15. Both Jones and Matthews barely found their way into this year’s official awards but Smith’s late-game clutch factor managed to convince A-10 voters he was a First Team-worthy selection.
