Maynor repeats as CAA Player of the Year

Eric Maynor, 6-3, 175, is seen by some as a likely pro draft choice, but the CAA doesn’t have much recent history of being a springboard to the NBA VCU senior guard Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C./Westover) was selected as the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive season in […]

March 5, 2009; 10:04 PM • by FTRea

Eric Maynor, 6-3, 175, is seen by some as a likely pro draft choice, but the CAA doesn’t have much recent history of being a springboard to the NBA

VCU senior guard Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C./Westover) was selected as the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive season in voting by the league’s head coaches, sports information directors and members of the media. The announcement was made Thursday night at the league’s pre-tournament awards banquet in Richmond, Va.

Also receiving top honors were Drexel’s Bruiser Flint as the CAA Coach of the Year, James Madison freshman forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) as the CAA Rookie of the Year, VCU sophomore forward Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce, Fla./Port St. Lucie) as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and UNC Wilmington junior Darion Jeralds (Winston-Salem, N.C./West Forsyth) as the recipient of the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award.

Maynor is the first repeat winner of the CAA Player of the Year award since UNCW’s Brett Blizzard in 2002 and 2003. The senior point guard led a young VCU squad to a 21-9 overall record and a third straight CAA regular-season title. Maynor became just the second player in conference history to lead the league in scoring (22.4 ppg) and assists (6.2 apg) in the same season and he is one of only two players in Division I to be ranked among the top 20 nationally in scoring and assists. He scored 20 or more points in 20 of the Rams’ 30 contests and reached the 30-point mark six times. He is also among the top 10 in the CAA in field goal (46.1%), free throw (82.2%) and 3-point percentage (34.5%). Maynor is VCU’s all-time leader in points (1,866) and assists (651) and recently became just the fourth men’s basketball player in school history to have his jersey retired.

Flint guided a Drexel squad that was to picked to finish at the bottom of the league standings in pre-season polls to a 15-13 overall record and a 10-8 mark in CAA play. The Dragons reeled off seven consecutive conference wins in January and were in the hunt for the CAA regular-season title before suffering three straight one-point setbacks over the final two weeks. The CAA Coach of the Year honor is the third for Flint in his eight seasons with the Dragons. He and Richmond’s Dick Tarrant are the only coaches to have won the award three times.

Wells started 30 games for JMU and ranked 16th in the CAA in scoring with 11.9 points per game. The 6-foot-5 forward tallied double digits in 21 of 31 contests and topped the 20-point mark five times. He also led the Dukes and was 12th in the league with 5.5 rebounds per game. Wells connected on nearly 39 percent of his shots from 3-point range and his 70 treys were the second-highest total ever for a JMU freshman.

Sanders led the CAA in blocked shots for the second year in a row with 77. The 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, who ranks 15th in the nation with 2.6 rejections per game, has already climbed to fourth on VCU’s all-time blocks list with 172 in less than two seasons. Sanders also made his presence felt on the boards, ranking third in the conference with 8.0 rebounds per game. He grabbed double-digit rebounds 10 times and recorded eight double-doubles.

Jeralds saw action in 30 games for the Seahawks this season and made 14 starts. The junior guard averaged 2.1 points per game and handed out 39 assists while shooting 48 percent from 3-point range. Jeralds is the sixth UNCW player to earn the Ehlers Award, which is presented annually to the men’s basketball student-athlete who “embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship in conjunction with his academic athletic achievement.”

Joining Maynor on the All-CAA first team were Delaware senior guard Marc Egerson (Wilmington, Del./Glasgow), Northeastern junior guard Matt Janning (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer), Hofstra sophomore guard Charles Jenkins (Queens, N.Y./Springfield Gardens) and Old Dominion junior center Gerald Lee (Uusikaupunki, Finland/Korihait).

Egerson led the CAA in rebounding this season with 10.4 rpg and was the conference’s fifth-leading scorer with 15.5 ppg. He recorded a league-high 14 double-doubles, topped the 20-point mark 12 times and grabbed 10 or more boards in 16 of his 31 contests. Egerson was the only player in Division I to average at least 10.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Janning led Northeastern and ranked eighth in the CAA in scoring with 14.3 ppg. He tallied double figures in 24 of 29 contests and reached the 20-point plateau seven times, including a team-high 24 points in a victory at Big East foe Providence. Janning was the Huskies’ second-leading rebounder (4.8 rpg) and also led the team with 41 steals and 47 three-pointers.

Jenkins was the only sophomore to earn first-team honors after ranking second in the CAA in scoring with 19.2 ppg. He reached double figures in 29 of 30 games and netted 20 or more points 14 times. Jenkins was also seventh in the league in assists (4.2 apg) and eighth in steals (1.5 spg) while grabbing nearly five rebounds per outing. He is one of six players in Division I to be averaging at least 19 points, four rebounds and four assists per game. Lee was the CAA’s fourth-leading scorer with 15.7 ppg and ranked 10th in rebounding with 5.6 rpg. He closed the regular season with nine straight double-digit efforts and topped the 20-point mark in five of them. Lee made nearly 57 percent of his shots from the floor and was one of the league’s best free throw shooters at 79.2 percent.

– The information above was provided by Rob Washburn Associate Commissioner/Communications of the CAA

March 5, 2009 10:04 PM 0