As you know, Maryland is your regular season ACC co-champ. But with March just underway, and with last night’s Oscars still fresh in our minds (btw, Hurt Locker=overrated), we’re just getting the trophy case warmed up. There are several other ACC awards–team and individual–up for grabs this week. And this year’s awards season may be extra exciting. Perhaps even, dare I say, history making. Because the Terps may be poised to pull off the clean sweep.
The ACC’s major individual awards are player of the year, coach of the year, and rookie of the year. Agreed? Great. The major team honors, of course, are regular season and tournament champs. Winning all five of these awards would be an unprecedented accomplishment. Before ROY was established in 1976, North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Duke all swept the ACC tourney, COY, and POY. But since ‘76, the brooms have remained in the closet. Several teams have gotten within one; the last team to do so was the 1999-2000 Blue Devils, who were thwarted by Joe Forte(!) nabbing ROY.
But this week, the Terps have a decent chance to get it done, although it won’t be easy, especially because voters are involved. Let’s analyze their chances, starting with the highest probability of success:
Regular Season Title
Check. Doesn’t get much more high-probability than this.
Coach of the Year
The official ACC preseason media poll had Maryland finishing fifth. They finished tied for first. No one had them even sniffing the national top 25. As of today, they are in the top 20. The team was shaky early but righted the ship and tore through the ACC. Their offense has improved. Their defense has massively improved. Under Williams’ tutelage, top player Greivis Vasquez has vanquished various demons to flourish in his senior season. Jordan Williams went from afterthought to ROY candidate (more on him below). If you have a better option for ACC coach of the year, I’m dying to hear it.
Player of the Year
Grevis Vasquez. This case has been made many times in many places, so I won’t rehash it. Just look at the numbers, think about how strongly Vasquez and Maryland finished, and it’s clear. Barring a Roy Jones flashback, Vasquez is your 2009-2010 ACC Player of the Year.
ACC Tournament Championship
Unless my name is Helen Mirren, which it’s not (although she’s hot, just to give some credit where it’s due, if not especially relevant), Georgia Tech will be Maryland’s second-round matchup. The Yellow Jackets are surely still “stinging,” if you will, from their “buzz”er beater loss to the Terps, and could use another win to get a stronger position in the NCAA tournament. If the Terps win that one, they’ll likely get either Florida State or Clemson. Interestingly, both teams have won five of their last seven and are projected as eight seeds in the dance. The Noles are probably a better matchup for the Terps. The final opponent is going to be Duke. It just is. So a tough row to hoe, but not prohibitively so. This site gives Maryland a 19.4 percent chance of winning. Sounds about right.
Rookie of the Year
The toughest leg of the gauntlet. Credit Jordan Williams, though, for making this a two-man race, especially considering the other man, Derrick Favors, was on several preseason watch lists for national as well as ACC honors and is an NBA lottery lock whenever he comes out. Williams, by comparison, has played his way into the conversation by gradually evolving into an inside force. In other words, one has underacheived a bit, and one has overacheived. (Not to mention that one of their teams finished 13-3 in the conference and one team finished 7-9.) To be fair, though, the stats don’t lie, and Favors has a clear (although not necessarily definitive) edge. Favors scores 11.9 ppg, while Williams gets 9.3. Favors is third in the ACC with 8.4 rebounds per game; Williams is fourth with 8.3. Favors has two blocks per game while Williams has one. In their only head-to-head matchup this season, Favors won the individual battle with a monstrous 21 and 18; Williams finished with a respectable 9 and 12, and, of course, his team won the game. So Favors clearly has the numbers advantage, but Williams is an interesting dark horse because he has overacheived and his team has fared much better.
So there you have it. As always, only time…will tell. But it seems that Maryland has the best shot to sweep the ACC awards season as any team in recent memory.
(FYI, this article is also posted on Bleacher Report.)
(Photo credit: AP via USA Today)
