Photo by pete van vleet.It’s that time of the year again, when the regular season is winding to a close and conference tournaments are in full swing. Yes, the madness of March is here. It’s about time for us to take a look back at those who’ve earned the right to special recognition before we all descend into a world consumed by brackets, upsets, and that oh-so-hummable theme music that will soon be endlessly pumped into our ears while we float away into basketball heaven.
Best Major Conference* Player
- Greivis Vasquez, Maryland: In the biggest game of the season, against the Terrapins’ biggest rival, on the night he received his framed jersey, against his biggest competition for conference Player of the Year, Vazquez hit circus shot after circus shot and led Maryland to their most memorable victory in years. Oh, and Vazquez also led his team to 12-plus ACC wins for the first time in eight seasons, led the conference in assists (6.3 per game), is second in the league in scoring (19.6 per game), ends his career as the the only player in ACC history to collect 2,000 points, 700 assists, and 600 rebounds, and will probably pass Len Bias into second on the Terps all-time scoring list before the year is up. But for all that, it is Vasquez’s ability to take any game and make it his which makes him the best college player in the region this season.
- Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech
- Greg Monroe, Georgetown
- Sylven Landesberg, Virginia
- Kevin Anderson, Richmond
Best Player You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of Before
- Artsiom Parakhouski, Radford: One-half of Radford’s Eastern European connection (see #5 on this list), Parakhouski, who’s from Minsk, absolutely tore up the Big South this year and has to be considered a favorite for that conference’s top individual honor. The big center averaged 21.4 points and 13.4 rebounds per game, hit 58% of his shots from the floor, and had two of the five best individual performances of the season, including a 30 point, 22 rebound tour de force in February (keep reading). Parakhouski led Radford to a 8-2 record heading into the conference tournament, and some have even projected him as a potential first-round pick in the NBA Draft.
- Vlad Moldoveanu, American
- Michael Deloach, Norfolk State
- Dana Smith, Longwood
- Lazar Trifunovic, Radford
