How voting was done: We assigned point values to players based on where we thought they should land. These all-conference, all-defensive and all-rookie teams are listed by how the votes were received, in the interest of full transparency.
Player of the Year: Daron Holmes Dayton
Defensive Player of the Year: Daron Holmes Dayton & Ace Baldwin Jr. VCU
Freshman of the Year: RJ Luis Massachusetts
Coach of the Year: Keith Urgo Fordham
We have to start with an apology letter to Urgo and his staff. We doubted you. We disparaged you. We called Fordham names. And we didn’t believe in this team… and I think many people would fall in our boat. Fordham finishing 3rd after being picked 11th in the preseason poll is enough for us to pick Urgo as our Coach of the Year.
Let’s get to the players.
When it came to voting it became apparent that there was a big divide. We each had the same first top 10 players in some order. After that it was a complete mess. Two separate players made the third team who each of of us felt very strongly about. As for the player of the year, we each voted for a player not named Daron Holmes, but Holmes won based on the total amount of points accrued. Andrew voted for Ace Baldwin Jr as his POY, Tom Smyth voted for James Bishop.
All Conference First Team:
Daron Holmes, Dayton
Ace Baldwin Jr, VCU
James Bishop, George Washington
Darius Quisenberry, Fordham
Yuri Collins, SLU
Toumani Camara, Dayton
All Conference Second Team:
Josh Oduro, George Mason
Tyler Burton, Richmond
Erik Reynolds II, Saint Joseph’s
Foster Loyer, Davidson
Ishmael Leggett, Rhode Island
Dae Dae Grant, Duquesne
All Conference Third Team:
Brendan Adams, George Washington
Philip Alston, Loyola Chicago
Sam Mennenga, Davidson
Jalen DeLoach, VCU
Khalid Moore, Fordham
Daryl Banks III, St. Bonaventure
On the all defensive team, we each had the same players in our top 3. Andrew had Baldwin as his DPOY while Tom had Holmes.
All Defensive Team
Ace Baldwin Jr, VCU
Daron Holmes, Dayton
Jimmy Clark III, Duquesne
Abdou Tsimbila, Fordham
Francis Okoro, SLU
Honorable Mention: Jayden Nunn, VCU and Ricky Lindo Jr, George Washington
RJ Luis was our Freshman of the Year. We both had the same players in our top 4, but we couldn’t agree on the last spot. Nelson and Fleming tied for the last spot on the all freshman team.
All Freshman Team
RJ Luis, Massachusetts
Max Edwards, George Washington
Yann Farell, St. Bonaventure
Ben Schwieger, Loyola Chicago
Rasheer Fleming, Saint Joseph’s
Jason Nelson, Richmond