A-10 all conference team: De'Angelo on 3rd team

Mike_Persinger · March 5, 2007, 5:19pm

ATLANTIC 10 ANNOUNCES ALL-CONFERENCE MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Massachusetts senior Stephane Lasme, who leads the Conference in rebounding and blocks, has been named the 2006-07 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball Player of the Year in voting conducted among the Conference’s head coaches.

    The Atlantic 10 coaches also tabbed Robert Mitchell of Duquesne as Rookie of the Year, Temple’s Dionte Christmas as the Chris Daniels Award winner as the league’s most improved player, Charles Little of Dayton as Sixth Man of the Year and Rhode Island’s Jim Baron as Coach of the Year, while Lame was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.  Kieron Achara of Duquesne garnered Student-Athlete of the Year distinction in voting among the league’s sports information directors.     

    Lasme enters this week’s Atlantic 10 Championship with an average of 9.4 rpg., 5.13 bpg., while shooting .623 percent (149-of-239) from the field.  He ranks second nationally in blocks and is one of three players in NCAA history to register four triple-doubles in a season, joining Michael Anderson (Drexel - 1986) and Jason Kidd (California - 1994).  The senior forward leads the league with 15 double-digit rebounding performances and is averaging 13.5 ppg.  He is the first UMass student-athlete to earn A-10 Player of the Year honors since Marcus Camby in 1995-96.  

    A three-time Player of the Week selection, Lasme is joined on the All-Conference first-team by teammate Rashaun Freeman, Will Daniels of Rhode Island, Xavier’s Justin Doellman and Ahmad Nivins of Saint Joseph’s.  Freeman is the first A-10 standout to be named to the first-team three consecutive years since Saint Joseph’s Jameer Nelson (2001-04).   

    The All-Conference second-team consists of Christmas, Bryant Dunston of Fordham, Xavier’s Drew Lavender, Tommie Liddell of Saint Louis and Brian Roberts of Dayton.  The third-team includes Charlotte’s De’Angelo Alexander, Stanley Burrell of Xavier, Pat Calathes of Saint Joseph’s and teammates Carl Elliott and Maureece Rice of George Washington.  Jimmy Baron (URI), Kevin Lisch (SLU), Marcus Stout (FOR) and Mark Tyndale (TU) garnered honorable mention acclaim.      

    Mitchell was a five-time Rookie of the Week selection and enters this week’s A-10 Championship averaging 16.5 ppg., good for seventh in the Conference and sixth nationally among freshmen.  The Brooklyn, NY, native scored 20 or more points 12 times this season and ranks second on the team in both field goal shooting (.453) and rebounding (5.4).                                                    

    Joining Mitchell on the All-Rookie team are Xavier’s Derrick Brown, Jawan Carter of Saint Joseph’s, Dan Geriot of Richmond, La Salle’s Rodney Green and Damian Hollis of George Washington.   

    Lasme joins Tony Dobbins of Richmond (2002-04) as the only players in league history to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors in successive seasons.  The Libreville, Gabon, resident has registered 154 blocks this season, an A-10 single-season record, while anchoring a UMass defense that leads the A-10 in field goal defense (.398).   

    The All-Defensive team is comprised of Lasme, Achara, Xavier’s Justin Cage, Elliott and Lisch.  Cage is a member of the All-Defensive team for the third straight year.  

    Christmas was named the Atlantic 10's Chris Daniels Award winner, presented to the Conference’s most improved player. A year ago, the Philadelphia, PA, native averaged 3.5 points and 1.6 rebounds while averaging 11.3 minutes per game.  This season, Christmas is averaging a league-best 20.4 ppg. and ranks second in three-pointers (3.0 pg.).  The 6-5 guard/forward is shooting .469 (189-of-403) from the field, good for seventh in the Conference, and is tenth in the A-10 in three-point shooting (.403).    

    Little is the first Dayton player in school history to garner Sixth Man honors.  The bruising 244-lb. forward is averaging 10.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.  Over the Flyers’ last five contests, Little is averaging 19 points and 9.6 rebounds and recorded a pair of double-double performances, the first of his career.  

    Achara has enjoyed great success on the court and in the classroom in 2006-07.  The 6-9 junior is averaging 15.9 points and 7.1 rebounds while his .532 field goal percentage leads the Dukes and ranks fourth in the Conference.  Achara has registered 56 blocks, the second-highest single-season total in program history, despite missing the first six games of the season due to stress fractures in his foot.  In the classroom, the Stirling, Scotland, native boasts a 3.61 grade point average in Duquesne’s management program.  He is a member of the All-Academic Team for the second time in three years.      

    Achara is joined on the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team by Baron, Luke Meyer of Saint Louis and teammates Drew Crank and Peter Thomas of Richmond.  

    Selected by the league’s head coaches and media to finish 11th in the A-10 preseason poll, Baron led Rhode Island to a 10-6 league mark and 17-13 overall record.  URI enters the Championship as the fourth seed and boasts the league’s fourth-highest scoring offense, averaging 76.3 ppg.  The only coach in league history to earn A-10 Coach of the Year honors at two different schools, Baron was tabbed as the Conference’s Coach of the Year in 1995 while at St. Bonaventure and at Rhode Island in 2003.  In six seasons in Kingston, Baron is 85-94 (.475) and 291-296 overall (.496).

run49er · March 5, 2007, 6:13pm

Mike,

Thanks!!!

Here’s the link to the .pdf file on the A-10 website:

Atlantic10.org: 2006-2007 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball All-Conference Teams

system · March 5, 2007, 6:16pm

Very political/based on conference finish.

DA, EJ and Lee should have all been on those teams, especially EJ. He was rock solid consistent all throughout league play. He averaged 13.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, had four double doubles (and easily could have had 2 more in games he was yanked early in), led the league in charges taken, and in the non-tangibles department, played consistently and well in nearly every league game.

I’d have EJ on 2nd team and Lee (16 ppg while playing out of position at PG) & DA both on the third team. Ej could easily take Liddell’s place on the 2nd team squad. Liddell started out hot and played poorly in the last few weeks, failing to reach double figures in most of his last 7 or 8 games.

s9er · March 5, 2007, 6:43pm

[QUOTE=NinerAdvocate;222630]Very political/based on conference finish.

DA, EJ and Lee should have all been on those teams, especially EJ. He was rock solid consistent all throughout league play. He averaged 13.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, had four double doubles (and easily could have had 2 more in games he was yanked early in), led the league in charges taken, and in the non-tangibles department, played consistently and well in nearly every league game.

I’d have EJ on 2nd team and Lee (16 ppg while playing out of position at PG) & DA both on the third team. Ej could easily take Liddell’s place on the 2nd team squad. Liddell started out hot and played poorly in the last few weeks, failing to reach double figures in most of his last 7 or 8 games.[/QUOTE]

Finishing sub 500 and in the lower part of the league will do that.

system · March 5, 2007, 6:47pm

[QUOTE=s9er;222635]Finishing sub 500 and in the lower part of the league will do that.[/QUOTE]

little redundant, dontcha think? sub 500 = lower half.

s9er · March 5, 2007, 6:54pm

[QUOTE=NinerAdvocate;222637]little redundant, dontcha think? sub 500 = lower half.[/QUOTE]

No, not really. You can go 16-12 and finish in the lower half of the league.

pud

system · March 5, 2007, 6:55pm

[QUOTE=s9er;222640]No, not really. You can go 16-12 and finish in the lower half of the league.

pud[/QUOTE]

Overall record is meaningless to conference finish.

nice insult tho. Very creative.

Jimmyhat49er · March 5, 2007, 7:04pm

I can’t believe Booker didn’t make the all freshman team, WTF!!!

Anborn · March 5, 2007, 7:04pm

everything gets all chippy around here when we have a bad year i guess…

s9er · March 5, 2007, 7:04pm

[QUOTE=NinerAdvocate;222643]Overall record is meaningless to conference finish.

nice insult tho. Very creative.[/QUOTE]

They go hand in hand sport. We were a bad team out of league and a bad team in league. Those who pick the teams can see that. It’s hard to justify 3 players make all league teams when they are 60% of the starting lineup of a team that just isn’t good.

system · March 5, 2007, 7:05pm

I’m waiting for folks to remind me again of why the A10 is such a great place for Charlotte.

A-10_bound · March 5, 2007, 7:08pm

Only two players ranked in the top 10 in points and rebounds. DA and Nivens. And Nivens got first team DA third team? Interesting…

JoeSixPack · March 5, 2007, 7:16pm

The A10 is a great place for Charlotte because
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uh
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well
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hell, I don’t know why.

In other news, EJ not being anywhere on that list is a phuckin’ joke. Also, thought Elliott (GW) deserved a better fate.

system · March 5, 2007, 7:23pm

[QUOTE=A-10 bound;222649]Only two players ranked in the top 10 in points and rebounds. DA and Nivens. And Nivens got first team DA third team? Interesting…[/QUOTE]

It’s political, like I said. Knew we’d get snuffed, but it sucks that we have 3 good players that are getting rated by what the entire team did rather than what they individually did. This is an individual award, after all. Probably the one time you value individuality over teamwork.

And S, that was a completely pointless retort. Out of conference has nothing to do with conference awards. So you were pretty redundant when you said 7-9 and bottom half. Really, the point here is that you just wanna bag on everything Niner that you can because you’re jaded. IMO, EJ and Lee deserve much better for how hard they worked, and DA’s numbers are hard to ignore, to a fault.

s9er · March 5, 2007, 7:36pm

[QUOTE=NinerAdvocate;222653]It’s political, like I said. Knew we’d get snuffed, but it sucks that we have 3 good players that are getting rated by what the entire team did rather than what they individually did. This is an individual award, after all. Probably the one time you value individuality over teamwork.

And S, that was a completely pointless retort. Out of conference has nothing to do with conference awards. So you were pretty redundant when you said 7-9 and bottom half. Really, the point here is that you just wanna bag on everything Niner that you can because you’re jaded. IMO, EJ and Lee deserve much better for how hard they worked, and DA’s numbers are hard to ignore, to a fault.[/QUOTE]

You can discount out of league games or team accomplishments all you want, but the reality of the situation is that they both matter. Did DA deserve to be 1st team ? I think so. Lee clearly had a great year and EJ was our MVP IMO. But perception is reality. I’m not shocked at all, with the exception of DA, I thought he’d be 2nd at a minimum. You give these voters too much credit, they look at results. Starting conference play it was clear we were down, that carried through out the league season. These voters see us play an few times at most (thanks for the killer tv deal). Winners reap the awards, this isn’t new.

Wingate49erFan · March 5, 2007, 7:47pm

It's political, like I said. Knew we'd get snuffed, but it sucks that we have 3 good players that are getting rated by what the entire team did rather than what they individually did. This is an individual award, after all. Probably the one time you value individuality over teamwork.
And S, that was a completely pointless retort. Out of conference has nothing to do with conference awards. So you were pretty redundant when you said 7-9 and bottom half. Really, the point here is that you just wanna bag on everything Niner that you can because you’re jaded. IMO, EJ and Lee deserve much better for how hard they worked, and DA’s numbers are hard to ignore, to a fault.

Maybe getting shafted so badly will give the guys extra motivation this week in Atlantic City.
It’s not been their fault that no one else on the team can score, play d, shoot free throws, etc. on a consistent basis.

amnesiac · March 5, 2007, 10:43pm

Do you guys really think we had 3 of the top 15 players in this league this year.

ChevEE · March 5, 2007, 10:53pm

[QUOTE=amnesiac;222704]Do you guys really think we had 3 of the top 15 players in this league this year.[/QUOTE]
Yes. Count Phaler’s inevitable ability to flagrant foul when we are winning by 20 and that’s 4!

run49er · March 5, 2007, 10:58pm

[QUOTE=amnesiac;222704]Do you guys really think we had 3 of the top 15 players in this league this year.[/QUOTE]

Actually, no, though I am surprised that E. J. didn’t at least get honorable mention. Still, I am glad to see the A-10 go back to 5-member teams as opposed to that Big East copycat 10-member team sell-out from last year.

If we had finished as predicted, then we definitely would have deserved 2-3 all-league players. You don’t finish in the lower half of the conference with a losing record, go into the A-10 tourney as the #9 seed, and expect to get 3 players named all A-10.

survivor45 · March 5, 2007, 11:10pm

FWIW, I thought the selections were pretty good. The 2nd and 3rd teams were pretty close and they might as well have called it 2A and 2B.

It was a bit surprising to see that Jimmy Baron (15 ppg, 50% 3-pt shooter) and Mark Tyndale (17.5ppg, 6.5rpg, 3apg in 18 games) could only make ‘honorable mention’.

EJ should have made one of the teams, too.