2009-2010 All-ACC EVERYTHING

Welcome to Big Duke Ball’s third-annual Award Show. It’s time to hand out the hardware. The official ACC awards came out today, but I purposely avoided them so as not to be influenced by them. The fact is, I’ve known most of the first, second and third teams for a while now. In reality, there weren’t too many surprises, except the fact there is a noticeable absence of Tar Heels. Of course if Ed Davis didn’t get hurt, he would have landed on either the first or second team.

Enjoy.

ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
The race for POY was a three-man race between Vasquez, Scheyer and Delaney, but as Virginia Tech faltered, the race became a two-man race. In the end, I had to just look at the numbers. Vasquez led Scheyer in points, rebounds and assists. Of course Vasquez’s habit of turning the ball over (a lot) hurts him, but it wasn’t enough to put him over the top. What was though was the fact that he was able to pass Jon in FG percentage. If Scheyer, who beats Greivis in three-point and FT percentage, was able to maintain the lead in FG percentage, then I would have probably given it to Scheyer.
* Runner Up: Jon Scheyer, Malcolm Delaney, Nolan Smith

COACH OF THE YEAR: Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke)
This may be my only controversial pick, as most everyone else will give it to Maryland’s Gary Williams. So I’m going to spend the most time arguing this decision. My problem with this award in general is that they only give it to coaches who’s teams are overachievers. Did Maryland over achieve? I would argue they didn’t. In a weak ACC, starting three seniors, including the league’s POY, they did what should have been expected of them. Do I reward Williams because the media, including myself, failed to recognize the talent on this squad and decided last year they weren’t a good team? I would argue that Maryland underachieved last year and performed on par this season.

So instead of judging a coach based on my preseason expectations, I’m going to look at the results. Duke and Maryland tied for the ACC, splitting their season series. But overall, Duke finished with a better record, while Maryland was just 10-3 outside the ACC, including a home loss to William & Mary.

Not only did Duke have a better overall record than Maryland, they did it playing a tougher schedule. Duke’s SOS is 4th in the nation, while Maryland’s is a respectable 26th. The Blue Devils are 5-3 against top-25 teams, 11-3 overall against top-50 teams. Maryland is just 2-3 against top-25 teams and 6-5 against top-50 teams. What I’m trying to say is, Duke’s resume is more impressive than Maryland’s resume.

Of course, the argument will be that Coach K and Duke have better players and Maryland had less to work with? My answer is, whose fault is that? The last time I checked, the head coach is responsible for recruiting. Why do we punish coaches simply because they recruited well and then those players went out and play well?
* Runner Up: Gary Williams, Seth Greenberg

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chris Singleton (Florida State)
The reality is, this was the easiest individual award to make. Singleton finished tied for fourth in blocks (1.5 per game), but more impressively, led the conference in steals (2.3 per game), despite being a 6’9 forward. When the senior isn’t too busy swatting or swapping balls away, he’s also crashing the board, grabbing 5.1 defensive rebounds per game (8th in the ACC). And you wonder why FSU has the No 1 defensive team in the nation.
* Runner Up: Soloman Alabi, Nolan Smith

FIRST-TEAM ALL-ACC

G – Greivis Vasquez (Maryland) – Take him off Maryland and the Terps are muddled in the middle of the ACC.
G – Jon Scheyer (Duke) – Leads the ACC in minutes (36.5), FT shooting (89%), 3-pt shots made (2.9). He’s 3rd in scoring, 4th in assists and most importantly, he’s first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3/1.
G – Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) – He led the ACC in scoring at 20.9ppg, thanks to a stunning ability to get to the line. For the season, he took 249 free throws. The next closes person is Jon Scheyer. He took 72 less free throws.
F – Trevor Booker (Clemson) – He scored his typical 15.3ppg (5th in the ACC), but his rebounding dropped 1.4 per game from his junior season. Yet, he still finished 8th in the conference. His .519 shooting percentage was second best, while on the defensive end, he was 7th in blocks.
F – Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) – The only player in the ACC to average a double-double, 15.9ppg and 10.8 rebounds. Although, his 3.3 turnovers per game almost knocked him down to second team.

SECOND-TEAM ALL-ACC

G – Nolan Smith (Duke) – In reality, he really deserves first-team honors. I just couldn’t find anyone to knock off. He’s 4th in scoring (17.6) and is a surprising 9th in the conference in shooting percentage (.439). We also won’t overlook his impressive 1.7/1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
G – Sylven Landesberg (Virginia) – He led all true guards in field goal percentage (44%), scoring 17.3 per game. Not bad considering he was Virginia’s only real scoring threat.
F – Kyle Singler (Duke) – You could argue he’s been the best player in the ACC over the last three weeks and he belongs on the first-team, but overall, his FG % is still only at 41%. Of course, while Aminu averages over three turnovers per game, Singler hasn’t turned it over three times in a game in over seven weeks.
F – Tracy Smith (North Carolina State) – He gets overlooked because he’s on a bad team, but I refuse to ignore the kid (I’m such a good person). He leads the ACC in shooting percentage at 54%. He finished the season 7th in scoring and 7th in rebounds.
F – Gani Lawal (Georgia Tech) – For a long while, he was the ACC’s best big man. However, hiss numbers have dipped, thus he misses the first-team. Still 13.6ppg, 8.8 rebound and a .527 shooting percentage is nothing to sneeze at.

THIRD-TEAM ALL-ACC

G – Ishmael Smith (Wake Forest) – There are some ugly stats that go along with smith (50% at the free throw line, 22% from three), but he dishes out six assists per game (2/1 A/T Ratio), while finishing second on his team in scoring.
G – Reggie Jackson (Boston College) – Reggie gets the nod over Va Tech’s Dorenzo Hudson. While Hudson has scored more (14.4 to 12.7), Jackson beats Hudson head-to-head in rebounds (5.6-3.5) and assists (4.5-2.0). We do wish that Jackson shot at a higher percentage though (44% overall, 28% from three).
F – Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) – While I’m disappointed in his final numbers (blame my high expectations), as well as Georgia Tech’s season, Favors’ numbers are still pretty solid. Scoring 11.9, grabbing 8.4 rebounds and shooting 60% is pretty damn good for a freshman. He just needed to learn how to stay out of foul trouble.
F – Soloman Alabi (Florida State) – He was a human fly swatter in the paint, leading the conference in blocks (2.3 per game), scoring 11.6 per game (leading FSU), shooting 55%. He also was the Noles best free throw shooter, hitting 80% from the line.
F – Chris Singleton (Florida State) – You have to have the ACC defensive player on one of these teams, right? On top of the D though, he also scored a decent 10.4 per game, grabbing 7.2 boards, although I’d like to see that .413 shooting percentage go up.

* Runner Up’s (in not particular order): Dorenzo Hudson, Landon Milbourne, Brian Zoubek, Eric Hayes, Joe Trapani, Ed Davis, Deon Thompson

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

G – Nolan Smith (Duke) – Lance Thomas gets the praise, but it was Nolan Smith who was asked to guard the best guards Duke’s opponents had. Typically, if you were facing Smith, your numbers went way down.
F – Lance Thomas (Duke) – I couldn’t find a second guard, so I’m going with Thomas over Jeff Allen. At the very least, Thomas was asked to guard some guards this season. The fact is, Duke’s rotation defense works because a player like Lance can bounce from a center to a forward to a guard.
F – Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) – He finished 5th in blocks and 8th in steals. Often he looked like the only guy on Wake who could guard.
F – Chris Singleton (Florida State) – I’m not going to repeat myself. Just look at the ACC “Defensive Player of the Year” award up top.
F – Soloman Alabi (Florida State) – It’s a block party for Alabi and the No 1 ranked defensive team in the country.

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

G – Durand Scott (Miami) – He seemed to hit a freshman wall, as he was top-five in assists for a while, but he still finished with 3.5 assists per game, with a decent 1.6/1 A/T Ratio.
G – Michael Snaer (Florida State) – Snaer actually got better as the season went along. He finished with 8.9ppg, scoring in double figures in 12 of his last 20 games.
G – C.J. Harris (Wake Forest) – He played a solid 27 minutes per game and was Wake’s only true long distance shooter, although .340 isn’t much to brag about.
F – Jordan Williams (Maryland) – By the end of the season, he was probably the best freshman in the league. He scored 15 or more in four of Maryland’s last seven games, grabbing double-digit rebounds in five of Maryland’s last seven games.
F – Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) – From beginning to end, Favors was the best freshman in the ACC and the only one opposing coaches had to game-plan for.

BONUS AWARDS:

GAME OF THE YEAR: Maryland over Georgia Tech, 76-74.
The Terps hit not one, but two game winning shots (the first didn’t count after a timeout was called.

MOST SURPRISING TEAM (TO ME): Virginia Tech
I had the Hokies ninth in the ACC prior to the season. With the departure of A.D. Vassallo, I just couldn’t see this team jumping onto the shoulders of Delaney and riding to a fourth place finish.

MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM: North Carolina
Come on, this one is easy. Almost everyone, including this blog had them first. They finished 10th. I’m sorry, I know they lost a lot of talent and would need a lot of freshman to come off the bench and help, but this team featured seven McDonald’s All-America’s and a starting lineup with no freshman.

STAT OF THE SEASON: Miami Hurricanes’s record….15-1 to 3-11.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Nolan Smith. His points jumped up 10ppg and made Duke fan forget all about the departed Gerald Henderson.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Deon Thompson. One of the few seniors in this conference. He never became a force underneath, scoring about 13 per game, grabbing a less-than-impressive 6.2 rebounds per game. He also failed to hit 50% of his shots (unacceptable for a big man with NBA hopes). Worst of all, when Ed Davis went down, Thompson’s numbers actually decreased.