In some years, picking the Atlantic 10 postseason award winners is obvious. It was pretty clear in early February Jameer Nelson, David West and Marcus Camby were going to win conference player of the year.
This year, the picks aren’t as clear as there isn’t a runaway choice for any of the honors that will be announced early next week.
The media doesn’t vote for postseason awards so this is purely speculative.
Player of the Year — This often goes to the best player on the best team. But who is the best player on Dayton? Scoochie Smith? Kendall Pollard? Charles Cooke? VCU’s alpha dog isn’t obvious either. JeQuan Lewis has been outstanding, but Justin Tillman is almost as valuable.
Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley cancel each other out at St. Bonaventure. So do Davidson’s Jack Gibbs and Peyton Aldridge.
Richmond was disappointing in nonconference play, but has been much better in A-10 action. T.J. Cline is a big reason and he’s looking like the leader for player of the year.
In conference games, Cline is the only player in the top six in scoring (19.1 points per game), rebounds (8.4) and assists (5.9) and his Richmond Spiders are likely to finish in the top four.
Coach of the Year — It should be George Mason’s Dave Paulson. Coaches like to vote for teams that win the league so Will Wade (VCU) or Archie Miller (Dayton) could emerge as the winner. But Paulson took the Patriots from the bottom of the conference to respectable in a hurry.
Rookie of the Year — Duquesne’s Mike Lewis II has won the league’s rookie of the week four times. His 14.2 points per game makes him the Atlantic 10’s top freshman scorer. No rookie has been outstanding from start to finish so his numbers probably put him over the top.
Defensive Player of the Year — Fordham’s Joseph Chartouny is tied for second in the nation in steals and is a big reason why the Rams have become so disruptive. Rhode Island’s Hassan Martin is a candidate here too, but Chartouny should be the favorite.
Chris Daniels Award/Most Improved — George Mason guard Marquise Moore should be the call here. His scoring average has jumped from 11.4 to 17.7 per game and his rebounds have gone from 6.1 to 10.3 per game, making him the nation’s best rebounding guard. If the Patriots were a top-four team he’d be the league’s player of the year.
MY TOP 10 — With Gonzaga and Villanova losing last week, I went back to UCLA at No. 1.
The Bruins have bounced back and beaten each of the teams that defeated them earlier in the season. The biggest question had been their defense and how they’d handle things in a game against a good team when they couldn’t get the game played at a high pace. Against Arizona, UCLA showed defensive aptitude that had been missing until February.
There is no lock to win what could be a wide-open NCAA Tournament, but the Bruins should go into the field as one of the favorites.
1. UCLA, 2. Kansas, 3. Villanova, 4. Gonzaga, 5. Oregon, 6. North Carolina, 7. Arizona, 8. Louisville, 9. Kentucky, 10. West Virginia.
For the rest of my Top 25, visit the College Hoop Week Guide on gazettenet.com’s UMass Sports Blog.
GAMES OF THE WEEK — There are plenty of great games between conference title contenders, and some of the smaller leagues will start handing out bids Saturday and Sunday. But some of the best games this week come in battles between teams on the bubble:
Michigan at Northwestern, Wednesday, 7 p.m. Big Ten Network — The Wildcats once looked like a lock, and in a year with a weak bubble, they’re probably still in good shape, but they won’t be comfortable until their name is called on selection Sunday.
Michigan is hot at the right time. The Wolverines have picked off Michigan State, Wisconsin and Purdue in recent weeks to get to 19-10 with an RPI of 46. They look good to get in.
Marquette at Xavier, Wednesday, 9 p.m. FS1 — The Golden Eagles are trying to play their way in, while the injury-hampered Musketeers are at risk of playing their way out.
Georgia Tech at Syracuse, Saturday, 4 p.m. — The Yellow Jackets would need quite the run in the ACC Tournament to have a shot, but they’ve got enough good wins (North Carolina, Florida State, Notre Dame, VCU) to have a sliver of hope. Syracuse is in better shape than Tech, but it’s lost four of five and can’t take anything for granted.
ATLANTIC 10 GAME OF THE WEEK: VCU at Dayton, Wednesday at 8 p.m. — Barring upsets on Saturday, the winner of this game will be the No. 1 seed in next week’s Atlantic 10 Tournament in Pittsburgh.
BUZZER BEATER — While one basketball player turned actor was being celebrated, another was being mourned this weekend.
On the same day that former Saint Mary’s reserve Mahershala Ali was winning a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in Moonlight, Neil Fingleton’s death came to light.
Fingleton, a native of England who played high school basketball in Worcester before playing at North Carolina then Holy Cross, is another reminder of the overwhelming health risks of being really tall. According to several media reports, the 7-foot-7 center, who had a recurring role on HBO’s “Game of Thrones”, died of heart failure at 36.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage