2011-12 Men's Basketball Annual Award Winners Announced
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) - UNC Asheville senior guard Matt Dickey and Charleston Southern head coach Barclay Radebaugh have been voted the 2011-12 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the League's head coaches and media panel, it was announced Sunday evening by the Conference office. The panel voted Campbell guard Trey Freeman Freshman of the Year and Charleston Southern senior forward Kelvin Martin as the League's Defensive Player of the Year. Radford forward Tolga Cerrah was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the League's Sports Information Directors.
Dickey (Trussville, Ala.) is the first UNC Asheville player to be voted the Conference's Men's Basketball Player of the Year since Kevin Martin in 1998-99, and is the third Bulldog to achieve this honor. Dickey finished the regular-season tied for fourth in overall scoring with 16.9 points per game and was second in the Big South with an 86.2 free throw percentage. He was the League-leader for most free throws made (168) and attempted (195), and he also ranked eighth in the Conference in both assists (3.63 per game) and steals (1.47). Dickey scored in double figures in 27 of Asheville's 30 games, including eight 20-point efforts. In Conference games, Dickey averaged 17.1 points to rank fifth, and was second in free throw percentage at 86.9 percent. During the season he recorded his first career double-double in a key road win at Campbell on Jan. 12 with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and tied a school record with seven steals in a home win against the Camels on Jan. 28, in addition to a season-high 31 points. The Big South's Preseason Player of the Year, Dickey helped Asheville lead the Big South in free throw percentage at 76.0 percent, the highest team percentage in the League in nine seasons, as well as 79.8 percent in Conference games. The Bulldogs also paced the Conference overall in assists (16.53) and steals (8.37).
The fifth player in Big South history with 400 career rebounds and 400 career assists, Dickey received nine first-place votes and 188 total points from the panel, ahead of High Point's Nick Barbour (three first-place votes and 158 points) and Liberty's Jesse Sanders (three first-place votes and 148 total points).
Radebaugh earns his first Big South Men's Basketball Coach of the Year honor after leading the Buccaneers to a third-place tie in the Big South standings -- the squad's highest Conference finish since the 2002-03 campaign. Radebaugh's club won 18 games overall in 2011-12, the program's most since winning 19 times in 1994-95. CSU's 11 Big South wins were also its most since going 12-4 in League games in 1994-95. The Buccaneers won 10 of their first 15 games this season, the earliest CSU reached 10 wins in a season since 1969-70, and its 13-7 start after 20 games was its best since 1986-87. Picked eighth in the Big South preseason poll, Radebaugh's team posted back-to-back 16-win seasons for the first time since the 1985-86 and 1986-87 campaigns. In 2011-12, Charleston Southern was first in the Big South in offensive rebounds (12.76 per game), second in overall three-point field goal percentage at 37.7 percent and was third in scoring offense at 76.9 points per game. CSU was also the only Big South member to defeat regular-season champion UNC Asheville on its home court this season with a 93-88 triumph back on Jan. 19. In Conference games, the Bucs were first in turnover margin as a team (+2.89) and second in scoring offense (77.2). Radebaugh received seven first-place votes and 43 total points, edging out UNC Asheville's Eddie Biedenbach (11 first-place votes and 40 total points).
Freeman (Virginia Beach, Va.) was the Big South's top scoring freshman in 2011-12 with a 14.2 points per game average. He finished the regular-season as the Conference leader in overall free throw percentage at 86.8 percent, as well as in League games at 87.5 percent, and his overall clip is currently the third-highest by a freshman in Big South history. If Freeman can maintain his top ranking through the postseason, he would be the first freshman since 1995-96 and fourth overall to be the Big South's free throw percentage champion. Freeman also ranked sixth in assists (3.89), fifth in assist-turnover ratio (1.61) and 10th in field goal percentage (44.1). He is also among the top 15 freshmen nationally in scoring and scored in double figures 23 times -- including five 20-point efforts. Freeman twice set the Campbell record this year for consecutive free throws made with streaks of 35 and 29, and handed out at least five assists in a game nine times. Freeman received nine first-place votes and 92 total points, ahead of Charleston Southern's Saah Nimley (five first-place votes and 79 points).
Martin (Adel, Ga.) repeats as the Big South's top defensive player, the second two-time winner in the award's seven-year history. He is the Big South's leader in steals (61, 2.10 per game), rebounds (267, 9.2 per game) and defensive rebounds (6.69 per game) as well as ranking second in blocked shots (45, 1.55 per game). Martin grabbed double-digit rebounds in a game 12 times, racked up a season-high seven steals in CSU's win over Stetson on Nov. 21, and has registered multiple swipes on 20 occasions, including a streak of nine-straight games earlier in the season. He blocked a season-high five shots twice and posted 11 multi-block games. In 18 Conference games, Martin was first with 6.72 defensive rebounds a game, tied for second with 9.1 rebounds, was second in steals with 2.00 (36) and second in blocks with 1.67 (30). Martin received 12 first-place votes and 30 total points, ahead of Winthrop's George Valentine (five first-place votes and 15 total points).
Cerrah (Ankara, Turkey) is a 3.92 student in computer science and technology. He appeared in 29 contests, including 21 starts this season, and is making 50.8 percent from the field. He dropped in a season-high 14 points against Presbyterian College on Feb. 23, and pulled down at least six rebounds in a game eight times this season. Almost half (43) of his 93 rebounds have come on the offensive end.
Joining Dickey on the All-Conference First-team are High Point's Nick Barbour, Liberty's Jesse Sanders, Charleston Southern's Kelvin Martin, and Campbell's Eric Griffin and Presbyterian College's Al'Lonzo Coleman tying for the final spot on the First-team. The entire 2011-12 All-Conference team is as follows:
2011-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE
First-Team All-Conference
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Nick Barbour, G, Sr., High Point
Jesse Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Kelvin Martin, F, Sr., Charleston Southern
Eric Griffin, F, Sr., Campbell (tie)
Al'Lonzo Coleman, F, R-Sr., Presbyterian College (tie)
Second-Team All-Conference
J.P. Primm, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Stan Okoye, F, Jr., VMI
Anthony Raffa, G, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
Darren White, G, Jr., Campbell
Chris Gradnigo, F, R-Sr., Coastal Carolina
All-Freshman Team
Trey Freeman, G, Campbell
Saah Nimley, G, Charleston Southern
Arlon Harper, G, Charleston Southern
R.J. Price, G, Radford
Javonte Green, F, Radford
All-Academic Team
Sam McLaurin, F, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
Mike Byron, C, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Landon Harris, F, Jr., High Point
Jesse Sanders, G, Sr., Liberty
Jay Reynolds, C, Jr., Presbyterian College
Tolga Cerrah, F, R-Soph., Radford
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Stan Okoye, F, Jr., VMI
Player of the Year
Matt Dickey, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Freshman of the Year
Trey Freeman, G, Campbell
Defensive Player of the Year
Kelvin Martin, F, Sr., Charleston Southern
Coach of the Year
Barclay Radebaugh, Charleston Southern
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Tolga Cerrah, R-Soph., F, Radford