dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 5:24 pm
Agree here. Since we're just past the halfway point of conf schedule, probably a good time to do midseason all-CAA teams. This would be my picks:
1st team
G - Tyler Thomas (he played his way back onto 1st team this past week)
G - Xander Rice (Monmouth)
F - Trazarien White (uncw. player of the year wide open but think he'd win today)
F - Jyare Davis (del)
F - Amari Williams (drexel. his impact goes well beyond his stats)
2nd team
G - Landon Glasper (nc at)
G - Anthony Dell'Orso (Campbell)
G - Shykeim Phillips (uncw)
F - Dubar (even if he has some more huge games, don't see how hofstra gets 2 guys on 1st team unless we go on a crazy run)
F - Brzovic (Charleston)
3rd team
G - Jaquan Carlos (we get on him but he leads assists by a mile and very few players impact multiple areas at his level)
G - Justin Moore (Drexel)
F - Kyreese Mullen (Hampton. Could see him getting penalized for hamptons record, but hes top 10 in scoring and leads conf in reb)
F - Christian May (towson)
F - Chris Doherty (northeastern)
Despite our struggles, still wind up as only team with 3 players represented
In a 14 team conference, that is 1.07 players per team, and I will be very surprised if a team with our record gets three players. We are more reliant on our top three than other teams, but I would still be surprised. Here are my comments:
Your First Team:
Thomas shoots twos .475 and threes .360. Rice shoots twos .444 and threes .368. I am not saying they will not make the First Team, but I want to see twos above .500 and/or threes above .400 for the First Team. White and Davis are similar. Neither shoots many threes, but White shoots them much better. Davis averages more rebounds and assists, and fewer fouls and turnovers. Williams averages only 12.1 points, and his field goal percentage of .519 is bad for a guy who shoots that close to the basket. Averaging more blocks (1.7) than fouls (1.3) is impressive. None of those three forwards shoot twos anywhere near as good as Fritz's .655. A majority of players are guards, so that makes it less likely to have three forwards on the First Team, but all three are on good teams, and a regular season title could help Williams.
Your Second Team:
Glasper shoots twos .410 and threes .316, which are both bad. His 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists do not help him be one of the best players, and he is on a bad team. It is hard for a player averaging over 20 points to be as bad as him. He will make one of the teams because of his scoring, but I hope it is not the First Team. Dell'Orso's 17.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and average shooting are worthy of the Second Team. Phillips shoots a little better than average, but does not lead his team in scoring. 13.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists is short of what I want on the Second Team. Dubar is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points, shooting twos at least .640, and shooting threes at least .400. The last player to exceed Dubar in all three of those was Vermont's Ryan Davis in 2020-2021. He averages 1.3 turnovers and 1.7 fouls, so he does a lot right without doing anything wrong. He averages slightly fewer points, about the same amount of rebounds, and shoots better than White and Davis. He will not make the First Team, but if people who did not know the CAA had to pick based on statistics without player or team names, maybe he would make the First Team. Brzovic is close enough to teammate Ben Burnham that I do not see how they could be more than one team apart. Brzovic averages 0.1 more points, and more rebounds and assists, but Burnham shoots threes better. Brzovic shoots threes 13-58 (.224).
Your Third Team:
Carlos averages 10.7 points and shoots twos poorly. His rebounds are great for his height, and his assists and assists/turnovers are great, but I do not know if it is enough for Third Team. Moore is a point guard who does not shoot well, and I think he is worse than Carlos. Mullen's scoring and rebounding is enough for the Third Team, but he shoots threes and free throws poorly, and being on the last place team could hurt him. May's only statistic that is worthy of Third Team is shooting threes. He shoots twos .407, averages 4.6 rebounds, and very few assists, blocks, or steals. Being on a good team could help him, and it would be hard for a regular season champion to not have a player honored, but they do not have any of the CAA's Top 20 in scoring. Doherty shoots well, and his .754 free throw percentage and 2.7 assists are good for a forward. I would put him on the Second Team, but I do not expect that to happen.
The rest of the CAA's Top 20 scorers:
Stony Brook's Tyler Stephenson-Moore averages 14.6 points, but does not do much else. William & Mary's Gabe Dorsey averages 13.6 points and 3.3 threes made while shooting well. He leads his team in scoring, but is under a point above two teammates, and his team is bad. I do not expect him to make one of the teams, but I would honor him. Stony Brook's Aaron Clarke averages 13.2 points, and like teammate Stephenson-Moore, he does not stand out in other ways. Delaware's Gerald Drumgoole Jr. is worthy of consideration. He shoots threes well, twos below average, and free throws .629, which is very bad for a guard. William & Mary's Trey Moss averages 12.8 points and 2.5 assists, but his shooting and other statistics do not impress me like I said about Stony Brook's two. William & Mary's Chase Lowe is a guard, but some of his statistics are unusual for a guard. His only three attempted was made at the first half buzzer on Saturday, and 6.5 rebounds are great for a guard. He shoots well, averages 2.8 assists, and while it would be unusual to honor two players on a team that bad, he deserves consideration. Elon's Max Mackinnon averages 12.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists while shooting well.
My decisions based only on statistics that are not predictions are:
First Team: Tyler Thomas, Darlinstone Dubar, Trazarien White, Jyare Davis, and Xander Rice
Sceond Team: Anthony Dell'Orso, Chris Doherty, Gabe Dorsey, Shykeim Phillips, and Ante Brzovic
Third Team: Max Mackinnon, Kyrese Mullen, Ben Burnham, Trey Moss, and Amari Williams
Charleston, Hofstra, UNCW, and W&M: 2
Campbell, Delaware, Drexel, Elon, Hampton, Monmouth, and Northeastern: 1
North Carolina A&T, Stony Brook, and Towson: 0
On your Third Team but not on any of my teams: Jaquan Carlos, Landon Glasper, Justin Moore, and Christian May
I know a guy will never be tenth in the country in points per game and not among the top fifteen players in his conference, but I care about Landon Glasper's poor shooting that much.
I felt that Phillips, Brzovic, and Burnham were close enough that I wish I could put them on the same team, but I cannot.
I looked at the CAA's Top 10 in rebounding and assists, which did not get me any players on those teams. Monmouth's Jack Collins is the best from that group.
Within each team, there is not an order. I used statistics in all games. I preferred all games over CAA-only games even when the schedule was balanced, and even moreso with an unbalanced schedule.
The CAA has many individual statistics where the top two or more players are close. Scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, and other categories could be decided on the last day.