2018-19 Conference Honors & Awards

All-AAC
Laquincy Rideau, South Florida [jr]
Corey Davis, Houston [sr]
Jeremiah Martin, Memphis [sr]
Shizz Alston, Temple [sr]
Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati [jr]

Player of the Year: Corey Davis, Houston
Top Defender: Tacko Fall, Central Florida
Best Freshman: Jayden Gardner, East Carolina
Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson, Houston

All-ACC
Ty Jerome, Virginia [jr]
RJ Barrett, Duke [fr]
De'Andre Hunter, Virginia [soph]
Cam Johnson, North Carolina [sr]
Zion Williamson, Duke [fr]

Player of the Year: Zion Williamson, Duke
Top Defender: Zion Williamson, Duke
Best Freshman: Zion Williamson, Duke
Coach of the Year: Buzz Williams, Virginia Tech

All-Big East
Markus Howard, Marquette [jr]
Shamorie Ponds, St. John's [jr]
Myles Powell, Seton Hall [jr]
Phil Booth, Villanova [sr]
Eric Paschall, Villanova [sr]

Player of the Year: Markus Howard, Marquette
Top Defender: Justin Simon, St. John's
Best Freshman: James Akinjo, Georgetown
Coach of the Year: Jay Wright, Villanova

All-Big Ten
Cassius Winston, Michigan State [jr]
Carsen Edwards, Purdue [jr]
Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan [fr]
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin [sr]
Bruno Fernando, Maryland [soph]

Player of the Year: Cassius Winston, Michigan State
Top Defender: Josh Reaves, Penn State
Best Freshman: Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan
Coach of the Year: John Beilein, Michigan

All-Big 12
Mikai Mason, Baylor [sr]
Barry Brown, Kansas State [sr]
Jarrett Culver, Texas Tech [soph]
Marial Shayok, Iowa State [sr]
Dedric Lawson, Kansas [jr]

Player of the Year: Jarrett Culver, Texas Tech
Top Defender: Tariq Owens, Texas Tech
Best Freshman: Jaxson Hayes, Texas
Coach of the Year: Chris Beard, Texas Tech

All-Pac-12
Payton Pritchard, Oregon [jr]
Jaylen Nowell, Washington [soph]
Matisse Thybulle, Washington [sr]
Tres Tinkle, Oregon State [jr]
Robert Franks, Washington State [sr]

Player of the Year: Matisse Thybulle, Washington
Top Defender: Matisse Thybulle, Washington
Best Freshman: Luguentz Dort, Arizona State
Coach of the Year: Mike Hopkins, Washington

All-SEC
Tremont Waters, LSU [soph]
Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi State [sr]
Grant Williams, Tennessee [jr]
PJ Washington, Kentucky [soph]
Daniel Gafford, Arkansas [soph]

Player of the Year: Grant Williams, Tennessee
Top Defender: Chuma Okeke, Auburn
Best Freshman: Tyler Herro, Kentucky
Coach of the Year: Rick Barnes, Tennessee

You disappoint me.

With non-conference play coming to a close, RBP takes a look at the 8 most disappointing teams in the country.

Butler (7-4): It was a tad silly to think Butler would be a Top 25 team without Gordon Hayward. That being said, the Bulldogs' decline since last year's national championship game is surprising. Butler has looked like a two-man show, and Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard are not getting enough help. Brad Stevens' squad has exactly zero quality wins, missing out on a chances to pick up signature victories against Louisville, Duke, and Xavier. The low-point in Butler's young season came in the form of a 71-68 overtime loss at home to Evansville (Go Aces!). Butler will need to clean up in conference if they want an invite to March Madness, but Horizon League dominance may prove a challenging task with the way 13-1 Cleveland State is playing.

Prediction: Butler puts together a nice Horizon League record, finishing second in the conference. The Bulldogs are upset in the conference tourney and miss the dance (while Cleveland State picks up the auto-bid).

Gonzaga (7-5): It's not for lack of talent that the Zags have failed to live up to expectations. Mark Few's team picked up a decent win against Marquette but lost to San Diego State, Kansas State, Illinois, Washington State, and Notre Dame. Wins this past week against Baylor and Xavier help tremendously. The Bulldogs have a New Year's Eve matchup against Oklahoma State and a date with Memphis on February 5, meaning there are opportunities to improve their tourney resume. Additionally, given Elias Harris' Achilles injury, the selection committee may be willing to cut Zaga some slack. While Harris' health has played a role in the Zags' poor start, the real culprits have been atrocious defense and shoddy point guard play from Demetri Goodson.

Prediction: The Zags finally figure out how to play without Matt Bouldin and dominate the West Coast Conference. Even if St. Mary's wins the WCC tourney, Gonzaga dances in March. Steven Gray, Elias Harris, and Robert Sacre have too much talent to be denied.

Michigan State (8-4): Three of the Spartans' losses have come against Top 10 teams (Connecticut, Duke, and Syracuse), and the other loss was to a talented Texas squad. Still, much more was expected from a team that was supposed to challenge Duke for national supremacy. Perhaps more disconcerting than the losses - lackluster performances against Chaminade and Oakland. So, what's happened to Sparty? Well, Kalin Lucas clearly isn't himself, as he has struggled to come back from a ruptured Achilles tendon. Draymond Green is a great passer, but he needs to park it in the post more often. Delvon Roe continues to move around like an old man, and highly touted freshman Adreian Payne has yet to contribute. And, per the usual, Tom Izzo has lined up a murderers' row non-conference schedule which will lead into play in the toughest Big Ten conference in recent memory.

Prediction: This is a Tom Izzo squad that's going to get better as the season moves forward. They are battle-tested, experienced, talented, and extremely deep. Because of the schedule, the Spartans may end up outside the Top 10 entering the tournament, but I still wouldn't be surprised by yet another Final Four run.

Murray State (8-4): The Racers won 30 games last year, beat Vanderbilt in the first round, and lost by just 2 points to eventual national runner-up Butler in the Round of 32. Returning 8 of their top 10 scorers, Murray State became a sexy preseason pick to make noise with the big boys. (I had them at 19 in my preseason rankings.) Things have not gone as planned. The Racers managed a win against Stanford but have been beaten by Ole Miss, UNLV, Oklahoma State, and conference rival Morehead State.

Prediction: Their opportunity to pick up a signature non-conference win gone, the OVC favorites will need to win their conference tourney to pick up a bid. While Morehead State (led by Kenneth Faried, averaging 18 and 14) poses a real challenge, the Isaiah Canaan-led Racers will regroup and win the conference regular season title and conference tourney.

North Carolina (8-4): Roy Williams is a great coach, but he's been pretty terrible since the start of last season, as he has refused to adapt to changes in personnel. I was a Larry Drew apologist last year, but the time has come for Roy to turn the keys over to Kendall Marshall. Perhaps more importantly, Roy may want to think about developing a consistent rotation. He shuffles his perimeter players in and out as if chemistry and rhythm have no place in the game of college basketball. Whereas last year's Heels had an advantage in the paint with Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, and Tyler Zeller, this year's team lacks bulk and is getting pushed around. Despite these shortcomings, there is simply too much talent on the UNC roster to excuse such poor play.

Prediction: The Tar Heels sneak into the NCAA Tournament thanks to a weak ACC but fail to make it to the Sweet 16. The bright side - the media realizes that it is a mistake to name a freshman Preseason First Team All-America.

Seton Hall (6-5): Okay, so no one thought the Pirates were going to win the Big East Championship, but more was expected of a team that returned a number of key pieces and won 10 conference games a season ago. While it's true that flirting with turning pro early isn't necessarily an indicator of next level talent, Seton Hall returns 3 players (Jeremy Hazell, Herb Pope, and Jeff Robinson) that seriously considered foregoing college eligibility before returning for a run at an NCAA invite. Sure, an injury to Hazell, the Pirates' leading scorer, just three games into the season hasn't helped (although maybe it did given Hazell's shot selection), but Seton Hall's play has been so uninspired, so disjointed that adding Terry Dehere and Sam Dalembert to the mix might not help things. Just to recap - the Pirates have suffered defeat at the hands of Temple, Xavier, Clemson, Arkansas, and Dayton. In other words, they've been beaten by every competent team they've played (and Arkansas). They beat Alabama, but everyone beats Alabama (just ask Iowa).

Prediction: With the personalities on the Seton Hall roster, this season has trainwreck written all over it. At this rate, the Pirates will be lucky to win 6 conference games in Kevin Willard's first season at the helm. That being said, Hazell may drop 40 in a couple games when he returns from wrist surgery.

Texas Tech (6-6): I never had high expectations for the Red Raiders, but I did pick them to finish seventh in a pretty strong Big 12 conference. Tech returned 5 of its top 6 scorers, including all-conference caliber players in point guard John Roberson and forward Mike Singletary. It seemed that not even Pat Knight's inept coaching could keep the Red Raiders from being competitive. Well, I was wrong. 12 games into the season and Tech is sitting at .500. Knight even benched Roberson and Singletary for their play in advance of a double-digit loss to UTEP. Tech has nothing even remotely resembling a quality win, and things are going to get ugly in conference play.

Prediction: Terrible season in which Tech finishes below .500 ends in the overdue firing of Pat Knight, which brings about a rant by Dick Vitale during an ESPN telecast of an unrelated Big Ten matchup between Purdue and Wisconsin about how big of a mistake the folks in Lubbock just made. Vitale then spends five minutes extolling the virtues of Bob Knight, neglecting to acknowledge the player abuse scandals that occurred at Indiana, and lamenting Pat Knight not getting a fair shake, neglecting to acknowledge that Pat Knight never would have been considered for a Division I head coaching opportunity if not for being his father's son.

Virginia Tech (6-4): The most disappointing team in the land bar none. Seth Greenberg's senior-laden squad is coming off 3 straight NCAA Tourney snubs, including last season's 23-8 regular season (which ended in a trip to the NIT). Returning 5 of their top 6 scorers, the Hokies seemed to have plenty of motivation to put together the strongest resume possible for the selection committee. Ten games into the season, however, Virginia Tech has decent wins against Oklahoma State and Mississippi State but has losses at the hands of Kansas State, UNLV, Purdue, and Virginia. As K-State guard Jacob Pullen said of the Hokies, Seth Greenberg's squad is made up of "grown men." Unfortunately, the Hokies have not been playing with the sense of urgency one would think a group of talented seniors would have knowing this is their last chance to be invited to the dance.

Prediction: A weak ACC gives the Hokies hope, but, in the end, they come up just short for the fourth year in a row. With the Hokies' bubble burst, we miss the chance to see a mature, physical team beat teams up in March.

College All-Stars

Freshman hazing might be a phrase soon lost on the current generation of college basketball stars. Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Kevin Love, and OJ Mayo established a new rule book for college basketball. Degree planning has become an afterthought for the star college basketball player. But if the current influx of freshman superstars is going to rid us of anything, my vote is for the NCAA Senior Dunk Contest and Three Point Shootout. Watching Andre Emmet win a dunk contest was a low point in my life. Senior college players are somewhat of a rarity in the current climate of college basketball. Even more rare is a senior with athletic ability worthy of drawing a crowd.
Rather, the NCAA should create an event featuring college stars from the top six conferences. The event should resemble the NBA All-Star Weekend, condensed into one day. The top six RPI conferences are included. This would create the opportunity for mid-majors to be represented. Each conference sends a dunker, a shooter, and a five-man team. The hosting conference chooses a band and set of cheerleaders to entertain at the event and sells tickets.
Luckily, the SEC just moved into 6th place of the Conference RPI so I was able to speculate from this year’s players who would be sent from each conference.
Dunkers

• ACC: Trevor Booker
• Big East: Sam Young
• Big Ten: Marcus Landry
• Big 12: Blake Griffin
• Pac 10: Demar DeRozan
• SEC: Senario Hillman

DeRozan gets the nod for youtube videos, alone. No one other than Pac 10 students have seen him play in a real game, but everyone wants to see what Gerald Green With a Freshman Year of Education can do in a dunk contest.
The Big Ten gives us Marcus Landry, but no one is happy about it. If there is a better choice, even Landry would appreciate being replaced.
Senario Hillman represents the SEC based on name alone. He beats out some athletes from LSU and teammate Alonzo Gee. Hillman stands at only 6 feet tall, but gets high and hangs in the air well.
There are plenty of big time dunkers in the Big 12 this year, and since so close in name, the committee would look away if Landry was to be replaced by a second dunker from the Big 12 due to injury. Teammates Willie Warren and Juan Patillo may both be better dunkers than Griffin. Damion James would also be fun to watch. But Griffin gets the chance to improve on his soon to be award studded sophomore year.
Terrence Williams could have just as easily replaced Sam Young as the Big East’s best dunker, but the senior gets his chance to shine in the 5 on 5 game where he can showcase his skill set to some NBA scouts. Sam Young is as explosive of a player as there is in the Big East. Though Billy Packer said it best, “He’s an acrobat.”
Good choices in the ACC, as well. Gerald Henderson and Trevor Booker are the top two athletic dunkers in the conference. Both are also two of the top players overall in the conference, but Booker has had better dunks this season and gets the invitation. It’s a bonus that he likes to dunk on Dukies.

Three-Point Contest

• ACC: Jack McClinton
• Big East: Kyle McAlarney
• Big Ten: Craig Moore
• Big 12: AJ Abrams
• SEC: Jodie Meeks
• Pac 10: Rihards Kuksiks

Each of these guys has somewhat distinguished himself from the other great shooters in their respective conferences. They all shoot above 40% and have completely gone off at points this season. Meeks and McAlarney are the favorites, but in this setting McAlarney might have an edge. McAlarney seems to shoot from the corners a lot more as a spot up shooter. Meeks often needs that rhythm dribble or to make a violent cut before he starts to fill it up.
Though, one would have to admit the three-point contest doesn’t seem fulfilling without Stephon Curry. But this fantasy event will not make compromises for mid-major conference players.

Five v. Five

• ACC: Jeff Teague, Tyrese Rice, Gerald Henderson, Tyler Hansbrough, Trevor Booker
• Big East: Jonny Flynn, Jerel McNeal, Terrence Williams, Luke Harangody, DaJuan Blair
• Big Ten: Talor Battle, Robbie Hummel, Manny Harris, Kevin Coble, Evan Turner
• Big 12: Sherron Collins, James Anderson, Damion James, Blake Griffin, Craig Brackins
• Pac 10: Jerome Randel, James Harden, Chase Budinger, Jon Brockman, Jordan Hill
• SEC: Nick Calethes, Jodie Meeks, Tyler Smith, Patrick Patterson, Jarvis Varnado

The 5 v. 5 tournament is admittedly the most ambitious idea in this projected fantasy event. The games would have to be played like a pickup game of basketball. Pickup basketball, Chris, is basketball without free throws, inbounds plays, or time keeping. The teams would play to 11. Seeding would be based upon conference RPI. Money is on the Big 12 or ACC.

The format would set up with the 5 v. 5 tournament getting under way in the early afternoon. The championship, however, is saved until after the Dunk Contest.
The Three-Point Contest begins in the early evening. The first round eliminates three shooters. The second decides the champion. (That is until Stephon Curry parachutes in to challenge McAlarney.)
The Dunk Contest works the same way – two rounds to decide the winner. Each player gets two dunks per round, scored on a scale of 100. (I’ve always had a problem with a scale of 50 because there isn’t enough distinction in scores.)
The night concludes with the championship game. There will be a much greater potential to see classic individual match-ups. Hansbrough, Griffin, Blair, Harangody. These are the type of match-ups that create the marketing campaign for the NBA regular season. It would be fun, draw a crowd, but still have an edge of excitement. With the players are representing their respective conferences, the competition between teams and players would make for a really exciting event.