Pre-Season Awards

Pre-Season Award Picks

Remember this is my personal opinion, so this take all of this as a grain of salt. If you think you should be on a list somewhere and you're not, go out there and prove me wrong.

Rookie (freshman) of the Year

Winner: Alex Bushnell
Runner up: Zach Millett
Honorable Mentions: Jack Barry, Matthew Heinser, Kyle Plausse, Pretty much the entire Strauss roster

I don't know many of the freshman, and for most of them, evaluations were the only time I've ever seen them play basketball. From what I did see however, they look rock solid. Alex Bushnell is knock down three point shooter and very good with the ball in hands as well, if he can show what he did in evals all season, he will be in the same spot he is now at the end of the season.

Coach of the Year
Winner: Me of course

No I'm kidding, this award is impossible to give in the preseason, because I genuinely mean this when I say it. All of the coaches are great, so this will end up being 90% based on record for the at the end of the season.

Sixth Man of the Year
Winner: Eddie Hastings
Runner up: Jake Scharn
Honorable Mentions: Jacob Brewster, Justin Mayer, Jack Blount, Colin TeDuits

Since there's equal playing time, this award is really hard to give. I interpret as the player who does the most on the floor outside of scoring. I know that doesn't really make sense though and I'm open to suggestions for a better meaning. For now though that's what I'm going with and Eddie despite not being a huge point scorer is extremely valuable to a roster. He can rebound with authority, and is also a top tier defender. He moves without the ball really well and fits the definition well even though he's capable of scoring high totals as well.

Most Improved
Winner: Andrew Dorr
Runner up: Max Phonard
Honorable Mentions: Alex Phonard, Will Joyner, Peter Eldredge, Phil Marino

This is another that's hard to give out in the pre-season, the award is about out performing expectations and in the pre-season the only thing I have to evaluate players on is expectations, and one evaluation. That being said, from what I saw of Andrew last year and what I see now... it's amazing the improvement. He'll be a sleeper teams will regret not picking.... even though they couldn't.

Defensive Player of the Year
Winner: Tristan Naboicheck
Runner Up: Bradley TeDuits
Honorable Mentions: Nate Townsend, Eddie Hastings, Colin Teduits, Sam Battles

Tristan has always been known for his defense, now I'm giving Patrick Beverley the pre-season lead as defensive player of the year. He's capable of guarding some of the best players in the league and screams hustle. While the runner-ups are right on his tail, he is primed for the award this year. His athleticism makes up for what he lacks in height and his is a pain in the butt to be guarded by.

MVP
Winner: Sam Boudreau
Runner Up: Garrett Solomon
Honorable Mentions: Drew Stone, Nate Townsend, Elias Jiser, Mark Debinder
This year should be very crowded at the top of the MVP ladder. There are at least 10-20 deserving candidates and it will be a battle. Sam has shown time and time again he is a freak of nature at this sport and plays very similar to Giannis. He'll get a chance to show what's capable of on the court and could very possibly average 20+ points a game.

Most Likely to Hit One Three and not score the rest of the season
Winner: Yianni McSweeny