URI senior forward Hassan Martin was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row by the Atlantic 10.
Richmond senior forward T.J. Cline was the Conference Player of the Year and Dayton coach Archie Miller was voted A-10 Coach of the Year. Martin also made second team all league and two other Rams won awards -- SEE BELOW.
Other big award winners included Richmond freshman guard De’Monte Buckingham was selected as Rookie of the Year; George Mason senior guard Marquise Moore was voted as the Chris Daniels Award winner, which is given to the A-10’s Most Improved Player; and Dayton senior guard Kyle Davis was selected as the Sixth Man of the Year.
Defensively, Martin led the Atlantic 10 in blocked shots with 2.6 per game, the fourth straight year he’s held the top spot in rejections in the A-10. He also ranked 17th in scoring (14 points per game) in the conference and eighth in rebounding (7.1 per game).
Moore, a guard, led the league in rebounding with 10.5 per game. He averaged a double-double with 17.4 points per game and the led the A-10 with 18 double-doubles. Moore also registered a triple-double this season. He averaged 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds a year ago.
Davis was a key cog in Dayton’s run to the regular season title. He averaged 8.3 points and 2.7 assists for the Flyers. He ranked sixth in steals (1.7 per game) in the A-10.
2017 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball
End of Year Awards
Player of the Year: T.J. Cline, Richmond
Defensive Player of the Year: Hassan Martin, Rhode Island
Rookie of the Year: De’Monte Buckingham, Richmond
Chris Daniels Most Improved Player: Marquise Moore, George Mason
Sixth Man of the Year: Kyle Davis, Dayton
Coach of the Year: Archie Miller, Dayton
All-Conference First Team
Jack Gibbs, Davidson
Scoochie Smith, Dayton
T.J. Cline, Richmond
Jaylen Adams, St. Bonaventure
JeQuan Lewis, VCU
All-Conference Second Team
Peyton Aldridge, Davidson
Charles Cooke, Dayton
Marquise Moore, George Mason
Tyler Cavanaugh, George Washington
Hassan Martin, Rhode Island
All-Conference Third Team
Kendall Pollard, Dayton
ShawnDre' Jones, Richmond
E.C. Matthews, Rhode Island
Matt Mobley, St. Bonaventure
Justin Tillman, VCU
All-Academic Team
Joseph Chartouny, Fordham
Christian Sengfelder, Fordham
Tyler Cavanaugh, George Washington
Patrick Steeves, George Washington
Mike Crawford, Saint Louis
All-Defensive Team
Charles Cooke, Dayton
Kyle Davis, Dayton
Yuta Watanabe, George Washington
Hassan Martin, Rhode Island
Mo Alie-Cox, VCU
All-Rookie Team
Mike Lewis II, Duquesne
Isiaha Mike, Duquesne
Jeff Dowtin, Rhode Island
De'Monte Buckingham, Richmond
Charlie Brown, Saint Joseph's
The 2017 Championship begins Wednesday with two first-round games that will air on ASN. Thursday features four second-round games and Friday is the quarterfinals. Thursday’s and Friday’s games will be carried by NBCSN. Semifinals begin Saturday at 1:00 pm on CBS Sports Network and the Championship final is Sunday at 12:30 pm on CBS Sports. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com or at the PPG Paints Arena Box Office.
Related Slideshow: Starting Lineup Projections for URI, PC, Bryant & Brown Basketball Teams
The biggest story line for the upcoming college basketball season in Rhode Island is the return of Matthews from a torn ACL, which he suffered in the first game of the 2015-16 season.
"Anytime you return a guy who is a potential player of the year candidate and potential NBA Draft pick, it gives the entire team a shot in the arm," said URI head coach Dan Hurley.
Matthews was named second team all-conference at the Atlantic 10 media day, and most recently, he was named to the Jerry West Award watch list for the third straight season.
For his career, Matthews averages 16 points per game.
Terrell has started 64 of the 65 games that he has played in his career, and this season will split back court duties with E.C. Matthews, giving the Rams one of the best back courts in the conference.
Last season, Terrell averaged 13.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game for the Rams, reaching double figures in scoring in 13 of URI's final 14 games.
In those 13 games, Terrell had at least 20 points in six of them.
Martin was named to the A-10's preseason all-defensive team and also second team all conference at A-10 media day.
"When Hassan was at his best was during his sophomore year when he was just a complete animal. I think you will see some of that this year," said Hurley.
Martin had 103 blocked shots and 24 steals during his sophomore season, while averaging 11.4 points per game, helping the Rams earn a spot in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
In 2015-16, Martin averaged 2.5 blocks per game overall, and 2.4 blocks per game in conference play, putting him atop the league leaders for the third straight season. The 2.5 blocks per game was 18th best in the country.
Martin finished his 2015-16 season with 65 blocked shots, ranking him sixth in program history for most blocks in a season. He is also second all-time on URI's career blocked shots list with 248 blocks.
Offensively, Martin averaged 12 points per game last season, averaging nine points per game for his career.
Reunited with Matthews, the two will serve as one of the top 1-2 punches in the A-10.
Now in his second season with the Rams after transferring in from Memphis, Iverson is coming off a 2015-16 campaign where he averaged 9.8 points per game, and recorded four double-doubles.
Expect to see Iverson get much better looks this year with the return of E.C. Matthews.
"I think for him its just simplyfiyng his game. He has so much talent on the floor, he needs to focus on doing a couple of things really well," said Hurley. "He has the ability to be an elite offensive rebounder, just needs to keep it simple."
Iverson is the cousin of NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson.
Kyron Cartwright has big shoes to fill as he replaces Kris Dunn at the point guard position.
"We are looking for Kyron to be a vocal leader, and a leader on the floor. We need him in order to get where we want to go," said Providence head coach Ed Cooley.
During the 2015-16 season, Cartwright averaged six points and four assists per game for the Friars in an average of 24.2 minutes of action per game.
Sharpshooter Ryan Fazekas started 12 of 28 games for the Friars in his freshman season, but missed about a month of action due to mono.
Fazekas averaged five points per game for PC, and shot 34% from behind the three-point line for the year.
"I think that he is developing great, he continues to put the work in. He should be a focal point in our offense this year," said Ed Cooley.
His best game came against Brown in the third game of the season, when he connected on five of the eight three pointers that he attempted, scoring a career high 17 points.
Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil are gone, mean Bullock is going to be one of the go-to guys in the Friars offense.
"His role is going to change, Kyron's role is going to change. We are going to rely heavily on them for offense, and will need both of them to score points" said Cooley.
Bullock averaged 11.4 points and 6.8 rebounds while playing an average of 32 minutes per game.
The 2015-16 campaign was Bullock's first season of college basketball after he tore his ACL in October of 2014, and was suspended for the 2013-14 season.
Holt, a 6 '7" forward with a 7'3" wingspan, comes to the Friars from Indian Hills Community College where he averaged 11.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 69% from the field.
That incident came just ten months after he hit teammate Devin Davis with his car, while having alcohol in his system.
"Emmitt is an impressive young name with a bright future, and he will have a successful final two seasons at Providence. Emmitt is the type of person and player that will try to do whatever is asked of him. He is very unselfish and will fit great into the basketball program at Providence, as well as in PC's community," said Indian Hills head coach, Hank Piona, upon Holt's commitment to Providence.
Young is a 6'9" forward with a 7'0" wingspan from Toronto, Canada where he attended Orangeville Prep. He is ranked as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com.
On the freshman class, Cooley said, "They are learning, they are nervous, they are trying not to make a mistake, which means they are making every mistake, but they will be okay. We just have to coach their confidence."
Last spring, Young played for the CIA Bounce of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) and averaged 6.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Hunter Ware started 29 of the 30 games that he played in for Bryant last season, and scored at least 20 points on six different occasions for the Bulldogs.
On the season, Ware averaged 12.7 points per game, while shooting 41% from the field.
"He has been around, now he is a junior so he has a great feel for what we are trying to do. The biggest thing for him is to show consistency with his shooting," said Bryant associate head coach Happy Dobbs.
According to Dobbs, freshman Ikenna Ndugba will be in the starting lineup for the Bulldogs when they tip off their season in November.
Ndugba is from Boston where he played for coach John McVeigh at the Brooks School.
In his senior season, he led his team in scoring with 13 points, 6.5 assists and four steals per game while finishing third in rebounding, averaging six rebounds per game.
When the season ended, Ndugba was named Independent School League Player of the Year, New England Class B Player of the year and MVP of the New England Class B Tournament Team.
As a freshman, Brockton's Zouzoua became only the second freshman to lead the Bulldogs in scoring in the program's Division I history. The previous freshman to do so was Alex Francis.
Zouzoua appeared in 31 games for the Bulldogs, starting 25 of them. He was selected to the NEC All-Rookie team after leading Bryant with 12.8 points per game.
He also showed his range, knocking down 60 three-pointers on the year, and shooting 37% from behind the three-point line. The 60 three-pointers ranked second most among league rookies.
North Providence's Pettway became only the second player in program history to earn the NEC Rookie of the Year award, after Alex Francis did it in 2011. He will look to build on that success in 2016-17.
"He is more confident coming back this year. Now he is just working on every aspect of his game and focusing more on his free throw shooting," said Dobbs.
In 2015-16, Pettway started the last 22 games for Bryant and finished his freshman year averaging 11.4 points per game, fourth best among league rookies. Pettway shot 59.7 percent from the field on the season and recorded 8 double-doubles, including a career high 26 points and 11 rebounds against Fairleigh Dickinson.
The 8 double-doubles are tied for most by a freshman in Bryant's Division I history.
Named a captain for the 2016-17 season, Blackmon is coming off a 2015-16 season in which he dished out 5.5 assists per game to lead the Ivy League, while ranking fourth in three-point field goal percentage - shooting 44% from behind the three-point line.
"All of our captains are important, but it all starts with Tavon. He is our point guard, the ball is in his hands. As we say, he is our engine," said Brown head coach Mike Martin.
Along with the assists, Blackmon also reached double figures in scoring 20 times, and scored at least 20 points on four different occasions for the Bears.
For his career, Blackmon averages ten points and 4.3 assists per game.
Named one of three captains for the 2016-17 season, sharpshooter Hobbie enters his final season ranking fifth all-time at Brown with 191 career three-pointers made. In 2015-16 he ranked third in the Ivy League in three-pointers made per game with an average of 2.6.
"JR is one of the best shooters that I have ever been around, he is a huge weapon for us," said Martin.
For his career, Hobbie averages 7.9 points per game and shoots 42% from three-point land.
Named one of three captains for the 2016-17 season, Spieth is coming off a 2015-16 campaign where averaged 10.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Bears.
In his career, Spieth has started 86 of the 87 games that he has played in and has averaged 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Spieth is the brother of professional golf star Jordan Spieth, who has won two major championships in his career, and most recently helped Team USA win the Ryder Cup.
6'9" forward, Erebor is a rated as a two-star recruit, according to Scout.com, out of Our Lady of Carmel School in Maryland.
“David is a talented front court player, who comes with a very high ceiling. He's mobile, athletic, and can protect the rim defensively. Offensively, he is comfortable with his back to the basket or facing up. He will make an impact at both ends of the floor," said Brown head coach Mike Martin.
As a senior at Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School, Erebor averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per game.
He was named Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season.
Charnov is a 6'11" freshman out of Kinkaid High School in Houston, Texas, and brings the Bears much needed size and scoring up front.
Charnov is rated as a two-star recruit, according to Verbal Commits.com, and averaged 15 points and nine rebounds per game in his senior year of high school.
"All of our freshmen are working hard, we are throwing a lot at them. It's obviously a big adjustment for them both on and off the court, but they were all recruited for a reason and our hope is that they will be able to contribute sooner rather than later," said Martin.