The 2020 CAA Tournament starts on Saturday. Before then, the conference will hand out its awards for the season, and as a media voter for the conference for over a decade, this provides an opportunity to look back on the season.
The standings tell you that there wasn’t a dominant team in the conference, and that comes through in the postseason honors to at least some degree. But postseason honors are an imperfect science when you balance individual accomplishments with team success or lack thereof. While Hofstra and William & Mary each placed three players on my All-CAA teams, they weren’t far and away ahead of the rest of the conference. Meanwhile, James Madison, who was easily the biggest disappointment in finishing dead last, almost placed two players on the three teams.
The only major award that was not a tough vote was CAA Coach of the Year, and each will be explained in some detail. In particular, Player of the Year was an agonizing vote; it began with five candidates and was whittled down methodically to three, then two, and you can flip a coin with the final two. I will be curious to see how the vote goes.
The CAA will also hand out its Dean Ehlers Leadership Award, which is not voted on by coaches, sports information directors and media members, and has been dominated by William & Mary. Also of note, the conference recently added a Sixth Man of the Year award, where voters choose from five nominees from the CAA office.
It should be quite a tournament in the nation’s capital. But before that, let’s use my award vote as a way to look back on the season and think about the conference. Players on all of the five-man teams are listed alphabetically.
Player of the Year: Nathan Knight, William & Mary
This was an incredibly tough vote. A decent case can be made for any of the five first team selections, and that’s where I started. Putting numbers, team success and impact together brought me down to Knight and Hofstra’s Desure Buie. I agonized over it, but after much debate, gave Knight the slight nod. Both shined at both ends of the floor, both were unquestioned leaders of their teams, both came through in the clutch for their teams. In fact, Knight broke Northeastern’s heart twice in very similar fashion. In the end, it was like a game decided by one possession where I felt like Knight, one of two players in the conference to average a double-double, just did a little more. You can’t go wrong giving it to Buie, who would follow in his best friend’s footsteps if he were to win it, as he was tremendous as well.
Rookie of the Year: Hunter McIntosh, Elon
It wasn’t all that long ago that I viewed this award as one of the easy votes, as Tyson Walker was off to a great start with Northeastern and for a time was the Huskies’ leading scorer in CAA play as well. But Walker tailed off a bit, while McIntosh continued to play well and make this interesting. It ended up being a tough vote, and with Northeastern having a little more team success, one might be inclined to give Walker the nod. But team success should mean more for Player of the Year than Rookie of the Year, and that helps McIntosh in what should be a close vote among what looks like a nice group of freshmen.
Defensive Player of the Year: Nathan Knight, William & Mary
At this end, Knight shined for the Tribe as they were also a much-improved team defensively. He led the conference in blocked shots and was second in rebounding, and the Tribe was third in the conference in field goal percentage defense, led in blocked shots and had the second-best rebounding margin. He had good help from a couple of teammates, but he had a lot to do with the overall success.
Coach of the Year: Dane Fischer, William & Mary
This is the only award that should not be a close vote, and there is plenty of irony here. Fischer’s predecessor won this award twice and was in the mix a few other times during his 16 years, and as is often the case, this award does come in part from low expectations. Little was expected of the Tribe following their firing of Tony Shaver and a mass exodus of talent. But Fischer and his staff came in and built on what they had and rode a great start in CAA play to a second-place finish. The conference was viewed as being wide-open before the season, with five teams getting at least one first place vote in the preseason poll, but William & Mary was not one of them and was largely picked at or near the bottom of the conference. No team came close to exceeding the preseason expectations as much as the Tribe did.
Sixth Man of the Year: Nicolas Timberlake, Towson
He comes from good basketball stock, as his dad is former Boston University star Jeff Timberlake, and he gave the Tigers a nice boost off the bench. He redshirted a year ago, but this year gave them a three-point threat off the bench in just over 19 minutes a game. In scoring 6.3 points per game, he shot over 35 percent from long range and also grabbed over three rebounds a game from the wing.
First Team
Desure Buie, Hofstra
Nate Darling, Delaware
Nathan Knight, William & Mary
Grant Riller, College of Charleston
Jordan Roland, Northeastern
Buie led the Pride to an outright regular season title as their leader, and he led the conference in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio while coming in second in steals. Darling keyed Delaware’s rise into contention as the third-leading scorer in the conference and had several big games. Knight came back to school after declaring for the NBA Draft and was one of two players to average a double-double while also being Mr. Clutch for the Tribe. Riller is closing out a career that will see him finish at least third all-time in career scoring in the CAA, but he’s also the Cougars’ second-leading rebounder, fourth in the CAA in assists and in the top 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio. Roland led the conference in scoring and went from being a solid complementary player to the unquestioned go-to guy for the Huskies, putting up some big games and shooting almost 40 percent from long range.
Second Team
James Butler, Drexel
Brian Fobbs, Towson
Matt Lewis, James Madison
Eli Pemberton, Hofstra
Andy Van Vliet, William & Mary
Butler joins Knight as the only players in the CAA to average a double-double, and he was also fifth in the CAA in blocked shots. Fobbs led the way on the third-place Towson team and was very dependable, scoring in double figures in all but four games. Lewis did it all as one of the few bright spots for James Madison, finishing among the leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. Pemberton was a key part of the great perimeter unit at Hofstra and came up big several times for them. Van Vliet made an instant impact for the Tribe after transferring and teamed with Knight for one of the best frontcourt duos in college basketball.
Third Team
Allen Betrand, Towson
Isaac Kante, Hofstra
Luke Loewe, William & Mary
Marcus Sheffield II, Elon
Camren Wynter, Drexel
Betrand emerged as a fine complement to Fobbs for the Tigers and was among the conference’s best shooters from long range. Kante was the quiet complement to Hofstra’s guards and excelled at playing off them to keep defenses honest and was a key presence as one of the conference’s top rebounders. Loewe played off the big men well for William & Mary and was one of the conference’s best defenders and a big intangibles player as well. Sheffield II quietly had a solid season on an Elon team with some good young players and had a couple of big games to lift them to wins. Wynter built on his fine freshman season, finishing in the top 10 in the CAA in scoring and second in assists.
All-Rookie Team
Jason Gibson, Towson
Hunter McIntosh, Elon
Shykiem Phillips, UNCW
Tyson Walker, Northeastern
Hunter Woods, Elon
Gibson moved into the starting lineup early in CAA play and never looked back, getting better from there as the Tigers’ fourth-leading scorer and primary point guard. McIntosh should edge out Walker for Rookie of the Year as he leads all CAA freshmen in scoring and is right behind Walker in assists, is third in the CAA in assist-to-turnover and shot 41 percent from long range. Phillips was one of the few bright spots for UNCW and gives them hope for the future. Walker made an instant impact for Northeastern and combined with Jordan Roland for a tough, dynamic backcourt duo. Woods teamed with McIntosh to give Elon two of the best freshmen in the conference and a nice base for first-year head coach Mike Schrage to build around.
All-Defensive Team
Desure Buie, Hofstra
James Butler, Drexel
Nathan Knight, William & Mary
Luke Loewe, William & Mary
Dennis Tunstall, Towson
Buie did it all for Hofstra this season, including leading the defense as he was second in the conference in steals. Butler led the conference in rebounding by a good margin and was fifth in blocked shots as the inside presence for the Dragons. Knight led the conference in blocked shots and was second in rebounding as the inside key for the Tribe. The perimeter key for the Tribe defensively was Loewe, who quietly slowed a number of top guards in the conference. Tunstall was second in the conference in blocked shots and a constant inside force for the conference’s best defense and best rebounding team.
