After a wild stretch of upsets (pretty much all at the hands of Williams), the NESCAC tournament wrapped up this weekend. However, the All-NESCAC selections are chosen based on a season worth of play – not just one game, not just the playoffs, not just team success. Individual players who rose to the occasion again and again are those most deserving of All-NESCAC honors, not players who rose to an individual occasion. Some teams have clearer leaders than others, while some are just stacked with players in the running for All-Conference recognition. At the end of the day, way more than the following 10 players could be considered All-NESCAC performers, but that’s exactly why receiving the honor is so prestigious. Pete and I came up with the following list together. Some disagreement definitely occurred in our discussion of who to select, but ultimately, our lists were nearly identical. So, here it is – the most official All-NESCAC list you’ll ever read!
Player of the Year
Trinity Center Ed Ogundeko ‘17 – 16.6 PPG, 11.5 REB/G, 1.5 BLK/G
For the second year in a row, I believe that the NESCAC POY honors should go back to Hartford. Shay Ajayi ‘16 deserved the award pretty clearly last season, and his old teammate Ogundeko has taken the reigns this year as the leader of the team. Big Ed is a beast, that much we can all agree on. But did he perform POY well? There’s certainly an argument to be made for Middlebury’s Matt St. Amour, and maybe even one for Williams’ Dan Aronowitz, but at the end of the day, Ogundeko deserves this. While Trinity only ended at 16-10 (6-4 in conference), without Ogundeko I don’t even think the Bantams are a .500 team. He is the glue that keeps them together, and without a doubt he was the best big man in this league this year. His 11.5 REB/G lead the NESCAC, and also make him the only NESCAC player to average double figures rebounding the ball. Ogundeko also averaged 16.6 PPG overall and 18.5 PPG in conference play, showing the ability to step up whenever his team needed it. That being said, he kind of folded in the NESCAC tournament, scoring just 8 against Wesleyan and a meager 3 points against Middlebury, which is why Pete and the rest of Panther Nation is going to kill me for giving this to Ogundeko instead of St. Amour. However, as I said above, these awards are based on a culmination of play over the course of the season, not just a couple games. Without Ogundeko, the Bantams are an average team at best – he makes them one of the toughest teams in the league to play, and that’s why he deserves this award.
Defensive Player of the Year
Bates Center Malcolm Delpeche ‘17 – 13.2 PPG, 8.8 REB/G, 3.1 BLK/G
Though it took him until his senior year to finally realize his potential, I think that Malcolm Delpeche finally showed everyone in the league what all the hype was about. In true rim protector fashion, Malcolm led the league in blocks, and he did it pretty handily. In 24 games, the lanky senior swatted 74 shots. Amherst’s David George ranked second with just 53 blocks. Malcolm was the Bobcat that made opponents fear the paint, and a big reason that Bates was able to pull off their biggest upset of the season when they dominated Tufts in Lewiston. To add to his resume, the first of the two Delpeche twins (I have no idea whether Malcolm or Marcus is the elder twin) averaged an astounding 8.8 REB/G, good enough for fourth in the league. Malcolm Delpeche made his presence felt throughout the season, and he was a huge reason that the Bobcats were as good as they were this season.
Rookie of the Year
Hamilton Guard Kena Gilmour ‘20 – 12.0 PPG, 3.8 REB/G, 0.7 AST/G
Kena Gilmour made a splash on the second-highest scoring team in the NESCAC this season. It didn’t take the freshman long to become accustomed to the college game; while Gilmour didn’t score in Hamilton’s opener (he played just 8 minutes), he then went on to score 16, 15 and 26 in their next three games, all of which the Continentals won. Overall, Gilmour averaged 12.0 PPG, but he actually stepped up his production a bit in conference play, dropping 13.3 PPG in NESCAC play. These rates were good for 19th and 12th in the conference respectively, but if you look at another interesting stat, you can see how explosive a scorer Gilmour truly is. Due to his minutes, which were hampered a bit by his youth and the fact that he was coming off the bench, Gilmour’s overall scoring totals weren’t as impressive as I am trying to make them sound. However, if you look at Gilmour’s scoring in terms of Points per 40 minutes, he ranks third in the conference, trailing only the two leading scorers, St. Amour and Jayde Dawson. Assuming the same rate of scoring, Gilmour would drop an average of 26.4 points in 40 minutes. This kid is a weapon, and one that will certainly sniff some All-NESCAC Honors as he matures.
Coach of the Year
Middlebury Coach Jeff Brown
It’s pretty difficult to write about the Coach of the Year, especially since I don’t have stats to fall back on for information. However, looking at the easiest stat to judge a coach by, Middlebury is 24-3. That is pure dominance. They had just one non-conference loss, and the two conference losses came to the top-seed in the NESCAC tournament and the NESCAC tournament runner up. That’s pretty damn good. Oh, and I guess they won the NESCAC tournament too – not bad, Midd, not bad at all. What’s most impressive to me is that having a preseason All-NESCAC candidate (Zach Baines) transfer midway through the season didn’t slow down the Panthers at all, and I think that Coach Brown is largely responsible for that. It’d be very easy for a team to fall into a slump after facing that kind of adversity, but the Panthers did not falter, they thrived. A gut-wrenching loss to Tufts over winter break set the stage for a second straight Middlebury NESCAC Championship run, and after their worst loss of the year to Williams, the Panthers went on to win 11-straight to accomplish that task. Hands down, Coach Brown deserves Coach of the Year recognition.
First Team
Amherst Guard Jayde Dawson ‘18 – 19.1 PPG, 3.8 REB/G, 2.5 AST/G
Jayde Dawson could be my most controversial pick for first team, especially due to the Jake Brown fan club that hawks this page waiting for a chance to pounce. I know the critiques – he is a volume scorer, he’s out of control at times, and he is inefficient. Even if those are all true (which I’m not saying I agree with all of them completely), he’s a stud. Having played Dawson in high school, I never wanted to believe that he was that good, but his 19.1 PPG/19.7 PPG in conference speaks for itself. Does he take a lot of shots? Yes. But Dawson also makes a lot of shots. He shoots 41.3% from the field and 36.4% from the three-point line. He also had a handful of buzzer beaters, including one against Babson that handed the #1 ranked Beavers their only loss of the season. Amherst is really a two-headed monster this year featuring two prolific scorers in Dawson and Johnny McCarthy. If you take Dawson out of the equation, Amherst is a much, much different team, and I would argue that they are much, much worse. For you Middlebury fans, this is the difference between Dawson and Brown. You take Brown off of Middlebury, they’re still in the NESCAC finals. You take Dawson off, they aren’t even hosting the quarterfinals. Overall, Dawson is a dynamic guard that can get to the rim consistently with a streaky three-point shot. He is well-deserving of First Team All-NESCAC honors.
Middlebury Guard Matt St. Amour ‘17 – 22.0 PPG, 4.7 REB/G, 3.0 AST/G
Though I snubbed him on my pick for Player of the Year, there is no question that St. Amour is a First Teamer. He led the league in scoring, and is the only NESCAC player to average over 20 a game (he averaged 22.0 PPG). One reason that he was able to score so much is that St. Amour was able to do a ton of damage from the perimeter. He hit the most threes with 103 on the season (and counting), and shot the 4th highest three-point percentage in the conference. Another truly impressive stat is that St. Amour played the third most MIN/G this year, highlighting his durability and consistency. Coach Brown was always able to count on St. Amour. He hasn’t scored under 10 points in a game since December 7th, and he averaged 24.0 PPG in the NESCAC tournament. St. Amour is a beast, end of story. He will do damage in the NCAA tournament.
Williams Guard Dan Aronowitz ‘17 -17.2 PPG, 6.1 REB/G, 2.0 AST/G
Aronowitz was my preseason pick for POY, and though he did perform at a POY level, he was darn close. After a season of ups and downs for the Ephs, the senior rallied the troops in the NESCAC tournament and pulled off back-to-back upsets over the three-seed Amherst and the one-seed Tufts. Against Williams’ bitter rival Amherst, Aronowitz led the team in scoring with 22 points on 8-18 shooting, following that up with 13 points against the Jumbos. Evidenced by his 8 rebounds against Tufts in the NESCAC semis, Aronowitz was willing to do anything he could to help his team win. His 6.1 rebounds were just behind forward Kyle Scadlock, who led the Ephs on the boards, and Aronowitz was constantly battling for loose balls, diving on the floor, and defending the best opposing players. Even on days when his shot wasn’t falling (which were few and far between), Aronowitz found a way to contribute. Easy pick here.
Bates Center Malcolm Delpeche ‘17 – 13.2 PPG, 8.8 REB/G, 3.1 BLK/G
This was a tough pick for me because his brother had such impressive numbers as well, but it was Malcolm’s defense that really earned him the First Team nod here. If you want to hear me rave about his defense, read the blurb above on Malcolm’s DPOY title, but let’s discuss his offense for a second. Without much of a jumper, Malcolm relies on banging around down low for most of his points. He gets a lot of put back opportunities because he gets great position on the offensive boards, and he has his rank of 7th in the conference in offensive rebounds to show for it. The Bobcats, in my opinion, performed well over their heads at times this year. Malcolm was consistently effective and had a huge part in Bates earning a playoff berth.
Trinity Center Ed Ogundeko ‘17 – 16.6 PPG, 11.5 REB/G, 1.5 BLK/G
Again, I’ve said pretty much all there is to say about Ogundeko above. I hope (though I don’t have much faith) that Trinity did enough to earn an NCAA bid, because I really want to watch Ogundeko play a few more games. The selection show is on now, so we will see!
Second Team
Middlebury Guard Jake Brown ‘17 – 12.2 PPG, 2.9 REB/G, 6.2 AST/G
Tufts Guard Tarik Smith ‘17 – 13.0 PPG, 3.1 REB/G, 3.5 AST/G
Amherst Guard Johnny McCarthy ‘18 – 14.5 PPG, 8.0 REB/G, 2.0 AST/G
Hamilton Guard/Forward Peter Hoffmann ‘19 -16.7 PPG, 5.6 REB/G, 1.2 AST/G
Bates Forward Marcus Delpeche ‘17 – 15.1 PPG, 9.7 REB/G, 1.1 AST/G
Seriously? Ogundeko over St. Amour? Read your own prose here. Head to head: (1) St. Amour – 28 points – Ogundeko 14; (2) St. Amour 18 points – Ogundeko 3. Not even close.
Malcolm over Marcus? That’s a misprint, right? Seriously? Look at the numbers. Did you watch them play? In a pick-up game, you’d take Malcolm over Marcus? Wild.
Head to head matchup, though it matters, doesn’t determine the final decision in my opinion. Especially considering the two don’t play the same position, their point totals are not necessarily indicative of one dominating the other. More important is the body of work throughout the entire season, especially considering the team each player is on. St. Amour is indeed the highest scorer in the conference (22.0 PPG), but Middlebury is the highest scoring offense in the NESCAC with 87.4 PPG. They run as much as possible, leading to lots of transition hoops. St. Amour is a dead on three-point shooter, and gets lots of open looks on threes because of this high-paced offense, since the best time to shoot open threes is in fact in transition. Conversely, Trinity is the lowest scoring offense in the NESCAC with just 71.1 PPG. Ogundeko scores 16.6 PPG, but in an offense that never fast breaks. They slow the ball down in an attempt to shorten the game as much as possible. Additionally, Ogundeko is more or less the lone offensive threat on his team. This allows defenses to hone in on him specifically, as they can do so without fear of someone else exposing them like Ogundeko can. With him being a post player, it’s even easier for them to hone in since he is often positioned in or close to the middle of the defense, making double teams much easier to execute. Meanwhile, St. Amour is surrounded by many other capable offensive players, which benefits him in that opposing defenses cannot quite focus on him as they can Ogundeko. I understand that opposing defenses began to double St. Amour on the perimeter because he was the only super consistent three-point threat on the Middlebury roster, and as a result, he became a much better passer and developed a much better midrange game. But at the same time, he had a plethora of weapons that he could pass the ball to, whereas Trinity’s offensive firepower was more limited.
Looking at their scoring overall, St. Amour’s margin of offensive production over Ogundeko’s is not as wide as it seems. Check out their scoring as percentages of team scoring, for example. Middlebury scores 87.4 PPG overall, St. Amour scores 22.0. That’s 25.17% of Midd’s scoring. Trinity scores 71.1 PPG overall, Ogundeko scores 16.6. That’s 23.34% of Trin’s scoring. How about in league play (where both individuals scored more than they did overall)? Middlebury scores 89.8 PPG in conference play, St. Amour scores 23.8. That’s 26.5% of Midd’s scoring. Trinity scores 69.0 PPG in conference play, Ogundeko scores 18.5 PPG. That’s 26.8% of Trin’s scoring. Let’s look at it in another light – points per 40 minutes. Overall, St. Amour scores 27.1 points per 40 minutes, while Ogundeko scores 24.9 points per 40 minutes. In NESCAC play, St. Amour scores 28.9 points per 40 minutes while Ogundeko scores 25.9 points per 40 minutes. Looking at all this, we can agree, St. Amour is the better scorer. However, he is not head and shoulders above Ogundeko as the two games you have pointed out implies. Does it matter that Ogundeko played very poorly in the playoffs? Absolutely. But as a scorer, while more susceptible to hills and valleys (certainly a negative aspect of his game, St. Amour is definitely more consistent), he is not too far behind St. Amour.
Aside from scoring, however, it’s super important to, once again, consider the entire body of work. Ogundeko is the only player in the NESCAC who averaged a double-double overall (note: in conference play, Hugh O’Neil joined Ogundeko on that list, but overall O’Neil did not average a double-double). Ogundeko averaged 11.5 REB/G overall, 13.7 REB/G in conference. In two different conference games against NCAA tournament teams (Williams and Tufts) that each were decided by 3 points or less, he had the following stats: Williams – 15 points, 23 rebounds; Tufts – 23 points, 21 rebounds. Against Bowdoin, though it was a blowout, Ogundeko put up 20 and 20. His dominance on the boards was consistent. Ogundeko played 5 other games against other NCAA tournament teams from the NESCAC – Amherst, Wesleyan, and Middlebury. Against Amherst he put up 19/11, against Wesleyan he put up 17/8 and 8/13, and against Middlebury he put up 14/9 and 3/13. Middlebury is the only team of the 5 NCAA tournament teams from the NESCAC that he didn’t have a dominant game against, but Middlebury is a much better team than Trinity – Middlebury is the best team in the NESCAC after all. As good teams do, the Panthers game planned effectively for Ogundeko and executed their game plan.
St. Amour is without a doubt the best offensive player in this conference, but what Ogundeko did with a much less talented supporting cast is more indicative of a Player of the Year than St. Amour’s offensive production on the NESCAC Championship roster in my opinion. Pete argued me on this point, but at the end of the day, this was the decision I came to.
As for Malcolm over Marcus, I again will argue that it is about a player’s entire game, not just one facet of it. I will spare you from reading as long-winded an answer as I gave to your first comment, but in short, we decided that Malcolm’s defense was more important to Bates than Marcus’ margin of superiority scoring and rebounding the basketball.