Patriot League Men’s Basketball Award Predictions

By: Greg Levinsky and Matt Doherty

With the 2017-18 Patriot League regular season slate ending this past weekend and the chase for an NCAA Tournament appearance upcoming, it’s time for the Patriot League Regular Season Awards. Ahead of the release of the awards on Monday, WTBU’s men’s Basketball beat writers Greg Levinsky and Matt Doherty provide you with their own personal choices for this year’s awards.

Player of the Year:

Greg: Zach Thomas, Bucknell (Sr. F)

Matt: Zach Thomas, Bucknell (Sr. F)

Our Take: Obviously choice here. Thomas led the league in both scoring (21.0 ppg) and rebounding (9.1 rpg) for the top team – Matt

Defensive Player of the Year:

Greg: Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr. F)

Matt: Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr. C)

Our Take: Floyd lead the league in blocks per game (2.2) and anchored an otherwise average Crusader defense to the conference’s second best points allowed per game average – Greg

Although Floyd led in blocks, Foulland was still the defensive anchor for the league’s best team. He altered shots, finished second in blocks (1.7), and controlled the boards all season long for the Bison – Matt

Rookie of the Year:

Greg: Sam Iorio, American (Fr. F)

Matt: Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr. G)

Our Take: Iorio dominated on what is an American team with great potential heading into the next couple of seasons with sophomore guard Sa’eed Nelson and junior Larry Motuzis. Iorio scored just half a point less per game than Petrie, but accumulated twice as many rebounds and more assists per game – Greg

I’m a big fan of Petrie. His shooting splits of 43/45/89 are ridiculous and he ramped up his play in Patriot League play to a tune of 19 points per game. The Leopards were a lot better than expected thanks to Petrie- Matt

Coach of the Year:

Greg: Dr. Brett Reed, Lehigh

Matt: Matt Lengel, Colgate

Our Take: Losing two-time Patriot League Player of the Year Tim Kempton didn’t hurt the Mountain Hawks as much as I thought it would. The addition of junior guard Lance Tejada from East Carolina sparked a lethal backcourt with senior Kahron Ross – Greg

Lengel finally figured it out in the Patriot League. Colgate was predicted to finish fifth in the league but wound up in second place. They were consistent all year long and Lengel deserves a ton of credit for getting the most out of his young group – Matt

First-Team All-Patriot League:

Greg: Zach Thomas, Bucknell (Sr. F), Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr. F), Matt Klinewski, Lafayette (Sr. F), Sa’eed Nelson, America (So. G), Will Rayman, Colgate (So. F)

Matt: Zach Thomas, Bucknell (Sr. F), Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr. F), Andre Walker, Loyola Maryland (Sr. G), Sa’eed Nelson, American (So. G), Will Rayman, Colgate (So. F)

Second-Team All-Patriot League:

Greg: Andre Walker, Loyola (Sr. G), Lance Tejada, Lehigh (Jr. G), Max Mahoney, Boston University (So. F), Sam Iorio, American (Fr. F), Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr. G)

Matt: Kahron Ross, Lehigh (Sr. G), Stephen Brown, Bucknell (Sr. G), Shawn Anderson, Navy (Sr. F), Matt Klinewski, Lafayette (Sr. F), Lance Tejada, Lehigh (Jr. G)

Third-Team All-Patriot League:

Greg: Stephen Brown, Bucknell (Sr. G), Kahron Ross, Lehigh (Sr. G), Shawn Anderson, Navy (Sr. G), Cam Gregory, Loyola (Sr. F), Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr. F)

Matt: Cam Gregory, Loyola Maryland (Sr. F), Jordan Fox, Army (Jr. G), Max Mahoney, Boston University (So. F), Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr. G), Sam Iorio (Fr. F)

Our Take: There’s plenty of youth atop the upper echelon of the Patriot League. It was hard leaving out Boston University senior guard Cedric Hankerson, but his injuries thrusted other players into the mix- Greg

Great mix of youth and veterans on our all-league teams. There were a lot of seniors that provided stellar final seasons. If Hankerson stayed healthy, he’d be right up there with all of them.

All-Rookie Team:

Greg: Sam Iorio, American (Fr. F), Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr. G), Walter Whyte, Boston University (Fr. G), Jordan Burns, Colgate (Fr. G), Alex King, Army (Fr. F)

Matt: Sam Iorio, American (Fr. F), Alex Petrie, Lafayette (Fr. G), Walter Whyte, Boston University (Fr. G), Jordan Burns, Colgate (Fr. G), Justin Jaworski, Lafayette (Fr. G)

All-Defensive Team:

Greg: Stephen Brown, Bucknell (Sr. G), Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr. F), Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr. F), Hasan Abdullah, Navy (Jr. G), Andrew Kostecka, Loyola (So. G)

Matt: Nana Foulland, Bucknell (Sr. F), Jehyve Floyd, Holy Cross (Jr. F), Hassan Abdullah, Navy (Jr. G), Andrew Kostecka, Loyola Maryland (So. G), Sa’eed Nelson, American (So. G)

Our Take: Not much disagreement on either of these squads, but Alex King is a lethal 3-point shooter (44.8%) at a 6’8 frame. Also, Stephen Brown’s defense is a little under the radar because he plays with Foulland and Thomas – Greg

All of the freshmen listed had terrific campaigns. Petrie, Iorio, and Whyte look to be special talents moving forward. It hurt me to leave Brown off the list but Nelson and Abdullah are two of the best at creating turnovers in the entire country – Matt