Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Race: Who’s in the lead, and who’s in the hunt?

glabedz

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There have certainly been surprise candidates playing well this year, but there have also been rock-solid players that haven’t faltered from the preseason A-10 POY race. We often get lost in what teams are playing well in the non-conference, so it’s important to step back and remember what players are exceeding expectations as well. We’re a long way from A-10 POY awards, but here’s how the race looks right now:
Frontrunner
Obi Toppin
Who’s in the lead right now? You guessed it. Not only has Obi Toppin started appearing top 10 in NBA Draft projections; he’s also putting up ridiculous numbers for the Flyers. He’s leading the conference in scoring at 22.1 points per game and is shooting an effective field goal percentage of 72.5% (that’s 14th in the nation). He’s also top 5 in the conference in blocks per game, proving he can be effective on both ends of the floor. Yes, Dayton has played its fair share of cupcakes, but Toppin didn’t falter in the Maui Invitational against...

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Love Blake, but would not choose him over Gilly if you were looking for a POY candidate from the Spiders. Gilly scoring almost nearly as much as Blake on much better shooting (58% overall, 52% from three - 5th in the country), averaging over 6 assists, 11th in the nation in A-to-TO, and leading the nation in steals.

Blake brings some great energy and scoring, but he needs to be more selective with his shots.
 
Love Blake, but would not choose him over Gilly if you were looking for a POY candidate from the Spiders. Gilly scoring almost nearly as much as Blake on much better shooting (58% overall, 52% from three - 5th in the country), averaging over 6 assists, 11th in the nation in A-to-TO, and leading the nation in steals.

Blake brings some great energy and scoring, but he needs to be more selective with his shots.

Agreed Gilly will end up being (and probably currently is) the best player on Richmond. I just wanted to give Blake Francis some love considering how good of a season he's been having, and not a lot of people outside of Richmond were talking about him in October. I think Obi Toppin has pretty much locked this A-10 POY up already though, barring some total collapse from Dayton. I think Gilly and Francis will both make interesting cases for 1st team though.
 
Im with SFspidur on this one, Gilyard only averages about one point less per game but he averages 10.5 shots per game compared to Francis who averages 14.6 shots per game. Gilyard also has much better composure and it is rare to see hime take low percentage shots like Blake does.
 
Just going to drop Gilyard's stat line from today in here... 15 points on 6-of-8 from the field (including 3-of-5 from three), eight boards, seven assists, six steals, zero turnovers, and even a block. He just entered Richmond's all-time top ten for assists (he'll pass Ced Lindsay and ShawnDre' Jones very shortly), and he's fourth on UR's all-time steals list behind Beckwith, Dobbins, and Anderson. At this rate he could be #1 in UR history for steals before he even starts A-10 play of his junior year...he only needs 16 more.

I'm not saying he'll end up deserving POY over Obi, but man, I just love what Gilly does out there.
 
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Just going to drop Gilyard's stat line from today in here... 15 points on 6-of-8 from the field (including 3-of-5 from three), eight boards, seven assists, six steals, zero turnovers, and even a block. He just entered Richmond's all-time top ten for assists (he'll pass Ced Lindsay and ShawnDre' Jones very shortly), and he's fourth on UR's all-time steals list behind Beckwith, Dobbins, and Anderson. At this rate he could be #1 in UR history for steals before he even starts A-10 play of his junior year...he only needs 16 more.

I'm not saying he'll end up deserving POY over Obi, but man, I just love what Gilly does out there.

Gilly was so much fun to watch today... my favorite play had to be that offensive rebound touch pass to Cayo. He just plays with a different level of swagger. I agree it's going to be tough to compete with Obi for the A-10 POY title, but Gilyard is making a strong case for runner-up right now. He and Fatts Russell have pretty compelling cases to be in that #2 spot right now.
 
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