Weber, Graham, and Alie-Cox earn A-10 honors

The Atlantic-10 announced all-conference honors on Tuesday. Three VCU players made the list in the Rams’ third season in the conference.

March 10, 2015; 5:22 PM • by Aaron Williams

The major awards, All-Conference, All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams are selected by a vote of the league’s fourteen head coaches. The All-Academic team is selected by the team communications directors.

Player of the Year

• Tyler Kalinoski, Davidson

Defensive Player of the Year

• Briante Weber, VCU

Rookie of the Year

• Eric Paschall, Fordham

Coach of the Year

• Bob McKillop, Davidson

Sixth Man Award

• ShawnDre’ Jones, Richmond

Chris Daniels Most Improved

• Kendall Pollard, Dayton

First Team All-Conference

• Tyler Kalinoski, Davidson
• Jordan Sibert, Dayton
• Kendall Anthony, Richmond
• DeAndre’ Bembry, Saint Joseph’s
• Treveon Graham, VCU

Second Team All-Conference

• Jack Gibbs, Davidson
• Brian Sullivan, Davidson
• Dyshawn Pierre, Dayton
• Jordan Price, La Salle
• Hassan Martin, Rhode Island
• E.C. Matthews, Rhode Island

Third Team All-Conference

• Shevon Thompson, George Mason
• Kevin Larsen, George Washington
• Cady Lalanne, UMass
• Youssou Ndoye, St. Bonaventure
• Marcus Posley, St. Bonaventure

All-Academic

• Jon Severe, Fordham
• John Kopriva, George Washington
• Gilvydas Biruta, Rhode Island
• Mike Crawford, Saint Louis
• Mo Alie-Cox, VCU

All-Defensive Team

• Patricio Garino, George Washington
• Hassan Martin, Rhode Island
• Youssou Ndoye, St. Bonaventure
• Mo Alie-Cox, VCU
• Briante Weber, VCU

All-Rookie Team

• Peyton Aldridge, Davidson
• Eric Paschall, Fordham
• Christian Sengfelder, Fordham
• Jared Terrell, Rhode Island
• Milik Yarbrough, Saint Louis

— ∮∮∮ —

Briante Weber headlined VCU’s award recipients. Despite only playing eight games in the conference slate before suffering a season-ending injury, the reigning two time Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year earned the honor to finish off his illustrious career.

Treveon Graham finished on the first team for the second year in a row and Mo Alie-Cox was named to the all-defensive team and the all-academic team. Alie-Cox finished second in the league in block percentage, was a strong rebounder, and has excelled academically after being deemed a partial qualifier during the 2012-13 season.

Atlantic 10: Rebuilding

Last season’s conference honors were dominated by upperclassmen. Twelve of the fifteen players named to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd all-conference teams were seniors. With all of the experience, six teams stormed into the NCAA Tournament while elevating the profile of the conference. 2014-15 has been dominated by rebuilding. Almost every team in the conference is expected to be better next season and this is reflected by the youth in the all-conference teams.

VCU’s Future

Coach Shaka Smart and VCU have been cleaning up on the recruiting trail over the past few seasons. Despite an abundance of talent, Treveon Graham who graduated high school in 2011, Briante Weber (2011), and Mo Alie-Cox (2012) were the only recipients for VCU. Melvin Johnson in particular, who earned the Sixth Man Award last season, fell short of any recognition despite the graduation of 12 of the 15 all-team players last season. It’s far from time to panic, but VCU has more question marks for next season than it seemed just a few months ago.

Narratives

The Atlantic 10 featured two of the better Coach of the Year narratives this season. Davidson’s Coach McKillop continued his winning ways while making the leap from the Southern Conference to the Atlantic 10 Conference this season. His team was picked last by the Blue Ribbon Yearbook and twelfth by coaches in the preseason. Davidson won the league at 14-4.

Dayton’s Coach Archie Miller had a strong case for being named coach of the year after finishing second in the conference despite having six scholarship players and no man taller than 6-foot-6.

Davidson eclipsed expectations, but those expectations were foisted on the program and are more revealing of flawed media predictions and condescension than hurdles within the Wildcats’ program. Dayton meanwhile triumphed over real adversity. For this reason, I though Miller was more deserving. The bottom line: with names like McKillop, Miller, Smart, and Hurley, there is no shortage of coaching talent in the Atlantic 10.

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March 10, 2015 5:22 PM 0