At the suggestion of commenter BrianEarl4Prez, now that we are nearly halfway through
the Ivy season, we are going to be monitoring the Ivy League Player of the Year/Rookie of the Year race via this weekly feature.
Player of the Year
The Contenders
1. Zack Rosen- Penn”s point guard has been superb so far for the Quakers. Logging the most minutes in the league and still managing to put up the most efficient offensive rating among go-to players says everything you need to know about this guy. Rosen”s passing ability is unmatched in a league full of impressive point guards this season, but the senior is also shooting 41% from deep and 48% from the field. Against rival Princeton, Rosen put up a performance for the ages, scoring 28 points and dishing out five assists with only two turnovers in 39 minutes. This is not a most valuable player award, but think about where Penn would be without Rosen? Certainly not in the thick of a title chase halfway through the season.
2. Greg Mangano- The Yale center wants this award and he”s playing like it. In last weekend”s pivotal home series against the P”s, Mangano went for over 20 and 10 twice, leading the Bulldogs to victory and into second place. Nationally this year, Mangano is a top 100 rebounder (offensive and defensive rebounding %) and a top 100 defender (block %). If Yale can keep rolling and Mangano can continue to get the ball in the paint, he”s the got a great chance to take home the Player of the Year award.
The Sleeper
3. Laurent Rivard- The Crimson”s sharpshooter is their most efficient offensive player. If you go by the logic that the League likes to reward its champions with individual awards, Rivard”s got a real shot. The three point specialist is shooting 41% from deep and he”s taken three times as many threes as twos, so he knows his role and plays it well.
The Long Shot
4. Keith Wright- The reigning award winner is having another great year with similar impressive numbers. While his load has lessened with more talent surrounding him this year, he”s been able to settle into a slightly more defensive-minded role. His defensive rebounding rate virtually leads the league (he”s 0.1% behind Shonn Miller) and his block percentage is third. For good measure, he”s shooting 60% from the field, his best in four years. He”s also the undeniable locker room leader of the league”s best team. If Harvard runs the table and wins by several games, he”ll have a real shot at the repeat.
Rookie of the Year
The Leader
1. Shonn Miller- The runaway leader here, Miller is arguably the league”s best defensive player through six games. He”s shooting the ball well inside the arc (55% on two-pointers) and dominates the defensive boards, grabbing a league best 25.2% of rebounds when he”s on defense. Sadly, I”ve only seen him live in his lone stinker of the conference season at Columbia, but his athleticism and potential were evident even on that night. His 15 and 10 last weekend at Dartmouth (and an impressive 9 and 8 at Lavietes) earned him his fourth Rookie of the Week award.
The Others
2. Jvonte Brooks- Brooks has been coming on strong lately, and almost led the Big Green to a victory over Columbia last weekend with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Brooks does a remarkable job of getting to the line–he”s averaging over 5 FT attempts in his last five games. He also does an admirable job on the boards, taking down 8 rebounds in each of the last three contests.
3. Gabas Maldunas- Maldunas is the interior counterpart to Brooks. He”s slowed down a bit in recent games, but the Lithuanian Sensation is still a forced to be reckoned with in the paint and on the defensive end. Maldunas is 6th in the league in block percentage, 4th in the league in offensive rebounding percentage, and 6th in defensive rebounding percentage. He had 15 and 9 in the conference opener at Harvard and took the game over for a stretch in the second half when it looked like Dartmouth might pull off the shocker.
4. Steve Moundou-Missi- Harvard”s star freshman has looked great and may very well be the most talented of this bunch. He”s been a valuable contributor off the bench and helped blow that Yale game wide open with a few steals and dunks. He”s also great on the glass and shooting 54% from the field. Averaging only 13.6 minutes a game probably won”t be enough though.
5. Alex Rosenberg- The freshman wing has done a nice job for Columbia, getting starters minutes and providing an important third option at times for a team dying for offensive help. Rosenberg”s a hustler on both ends of the floor, and he fills up a box score by being pretty good at pretty much everything. In the close victory at Dartmouth, he had 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. That hustle can come at cipro xr 1000 mg doses a cost though, as he has fouled out of three of the Lions” six Ivy games.
POY – JEREMY LIN!!!
Can’t disagree with the leaders although I think Brooks is right there with Miller for ROY.
Also, as you could guess by my user name, I think Ian Hummer has to be a sleeper pick. Princeton has had a poor start, but Hummer’s all-around stat stuffing should look pretty impressive by season’s end.
Bonus points for this line: “Greg Mangano – The Yale center wants this award and he’s playing like it.”
I think you’ve got a point [re: Hummer] here. Princeton is 2-3, despite the fact that they have not yet played a league game at Jadwin. If the Tigers can stay clean against everyone except Harvard and Hummer continues to do what he has been doing, they’ll finish pretty far up the standings, and he’ll receive serious consideration.
JBrooks has played 20% more minutes than Miller and put up similar numbers, except for the blocks. However, his performance has not produced any W’s for his team. I think Miller has the edge, but he has to keep up the good work and drive Cornell to a .500+ finish.