The Dragons Speak All CAA Teams

It's that time of year again!  On Thursday, SID's, coaches and media members will vote to bestow honor to the CAA's best.  And while it's easy to mock people who say, put Damion Lee on an all-defensive team, know that these votes reflect a good deal of thought and the awards are a well deserved honor for the student athletes who receive them.  With that in mind, here's the blogs All-Conference Team, and yes, these are real teams, broken down by position with minimal cheating (sorry Juan'ya):


First Team

PG Ron Curry, James Madison
SG Juan'ya Green, Hofstra - Player of the Year
SF Chris Flemmings, UNCW
PF Omar Prewitt, William and Mary
C Rokas Gustys, Hofstra


Scary thought for CAA opponents, three of the five are coming back next year.  Juan'ya Green has been dominant and his team is the one seed so that's a slam dunk.  Curry stirred the drink at JMU and in some ways so did Prewitt at UD.  Chris Flemmings was simply a revelation at UNCW with eye opening shooting ability and intelligence with the basketball.  And Gustys was the conferences best offensive big man by far - and is only a sophomore.  Scary.


Second Team

PG Kory Holden, Delaware
SG Denzel Ingram, UNCW
SF Tanner Samson, Elon
PF Terry Tarpey, William and Mary
C  Arnaud William Adala Moto, Towson

No, David Walker's name missing wasn't an accident.  You have to be able to stay within a football field of your man on defense in order to make this list, and Samson brought similar shooting efficiency with more pressure on him and did more on the defensive end, earning him the nod.  Quincy Ford may get by on history but his injury knocks him down a team and now all Northeastern fans hate this ballot.  Northeastern fans, you're great, you're players legacy is huge!  But you weren't winners this year and I love winners.  Winning is how you win.  Lets build a nice wall on the New Hampshire state line!

Moto and Holden were absolute do or die players for their teams and may have been two of the most valuable players in the league.

Third Team

PG Terrell Allen, Drexel
SG David Walker, Northeastern
SF Ameen Tanksley, Hofstra
PF Quincy Ford, Northeastern
C Marvin King-Davis, Delaware  Rodney Williams, Drexel

Probably owe David Cohn an apology here.  So David Cohn, I apologize, but what Terrell did as a freshman with absolutely nothing going on around him gets him the nod.  The Northeastern guys and Tanksley were slam dunks and easily could be seen as second teamers.  For the last spot, Marvin King-Davis made a choice to go to Delaware, and the perennially underrated John Davis continues to be underrated.

All Freshman Team

PG Terrell Allen, Drexel
SG Marquise Pointer, College of Charleston
SF Tyler Seibring, Elon
PF Jarrell Brantley, College of Charleston
C Jeremy Miller, Northeastern

Earl Grant comes away looking smart, doesn't he?  This is a fun group of freshman that are all active, strong all-around players.  Terrell Allen had one of the best freshman seasons a Drexel guard has had in the last decade, and Jarrell Brantley has all of the skills to develop into an elite big man.  Either could be player of the year, and being a Drexel based blog, I'll recuse myself.



All Defensive Team  - The All-Defensive team was named by Mark Walush @TheWalush

Defensive POY – Terry Tarpey, William and Mary
Rokas Gustys, Hofstra
Rodney Williams (Drexel)
Cameron Johnson - College of Charleston
Ron Curry, James Madison University

This list starts with Rokas Gustys, interior superstar from Hofstra. Gustys has been putting up spectacular rebounding statistics, leading the conference in both offensive and defensive rebounding, and is nationally ranked in block percentage. Because of these stellar numbers, Gustys gets my nod for defensive POY.

Also included on the ballot are Terry Tarpey, one of the most active players in the league, who is nationally ranked in offensive rebounding, block percentage, and steal percentage, and is a natural stat line.  Rodney Williams takes the next slot on the list due to his much improved play on the defensive end this year. Rodney has continually improved every year and he has become one of the better rim protectors in the league and has improved his positioning on the boards.

Coach of the Year

Pat Skerry, Towson

With much respect for Kevin Keatts and Joe Mihalich both who are very deserving candidates in a deep league for coaches this season, Pat Skerry takes the prize.  Last year, with the CAA ranked 18th in the country, his team finished 9th in the standings.  They lost their best (and only) perimeter shooter in the offseason, the league got much better, and what happened?  Towson finished third this season.

The Tigers went 11-7 in a brutally tough league simply by being the toughest.  They don't shoot well, they don't hit freethrows, they don't even have a top end point guard.  That team came in third!

It was effort and team play that earned this team the three seed.  The type of things that happen when a coach allows a team to grow and gets maximum effort in every game.  That's what led to having the best rebounding team in the league.  TU was eighth in the country in getting to the free throw line, which is all about playing too and through contact.  They played tough, played together, and played without fear.  And won.  That's all you can ask as a coach.  He asked, and his players answered.