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**CincyPanther88** · 03-01-2022, 10:28 AM

Originally posted by UNIpanther99 View Post

Other two time Larry Bird Player of the Year winners include:
Fred VanVleet, Doug McDermott, Darren Brooks, Kyle Korver, Hersey Hawkins, Xavier McDaniel, Lewis Lloyd, Larry Bird, and Junior Bridgeman

AJ needs to come back next year to make it 3.

**CyCarp** · 03-01-2022, 11:52 AM

Good for AJ, well deserved. It woulda been nice to see Noah 1st team, but hopefully next year. Trae not thrilled with the Valley defensive team, lol. I can't disagree though...

https://twitter.com/berhow_trae/stat...F1v4XnY4Q&s=19

I don’t even play defense and I’m better then some of these.. Telling me we won the conference and our best defenders @heiseman_1 @tywhon3 aren’t on this.. smh. @ValleyHoops

**GoPanthers85** · 03-01-2022, 12:42 PM

Originally posted by CyCarp View Post

Good for AJ, well deserved. It woulda been nice to see Noah 1st team, but hopefully next year. Trae not thrilled with the Valley defensive team, lol. I can't disagree though...

https://twitter.com/berhow_trae/stat...F1v4XnY4Q&s=19

I don’t even play defense and I’m better then some of these.. Telling me we won the conference and our best defenders @heiseman_1 @tywhon3 aren’t on this.. smh. @ValleyHoops

I agree with Trae and even Isaiah Brown made a comment. The one thing that gets me is the hype around Uguak. I have never gone into a game against Loyola and been thinking, oh great we have to play against Uguak.

**Wxcpanther** · 03-01-2022, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by GoPanthers85 View Post

I agree with Trae and even Isaiah Brown made a comment. The one thing that gets me is the hype around Uguak. I have never gone into a game against Loyola and been thinking, oh great we have to play against Uguak.

He's very versatile defensively with his length. He matched up with both AJ and Noah at varying points of the game. He and Williamson both did a very good job on Noah in the 2nd half to limit him.

**sivert** · 03-01-2022, 02:03 PM

We are used to being a defensive team, so we expect it. But at this point, we’re 6th or 7th in the valley for defensive efficiency and 163rd in the nation.
Pickford and Heise are both great defenders, but we simply don’t stop people from scoring.

Good news is we are second in the valley in offensive efficiency AND coach Jake had this week to work on defense.

**not a drake fan** · 03-01-2022, 02:08 PM

Well UNI was 6th in the conference in defensive efficiency as a team; all the guys on that list played on a team that had better defense. Judging defense is more subjective and it's harder to do, so you have to take the stats with a grain of salt. The defensive stats that most of the voters (steals, rebounds, etc) are using need to be adjusted for tempo to be worth anything at all, but you know that none of the voters are doing that.

If you want to look at b-ref's defensive win shares (not adjusted for tempo), UNI didn't have anybody in the top 20. Defensive rating, nobody in the top 20. That end of the floor is something that Jake has to get figured out in the offseason.

The only stat that we can really rely on is defensive team efficiency, which is adjusted for tempo and quality of opponents. And UNI was #153.

At the end of the day, people get too mad about these post season awards. Many of the people who are voting barely pay attention. Anyone who has been a fan of the conference for more than 5 minutes knows how things work.

**achrist70** · 03-01-2022, 02:16 PM

I'm just glad this seemed to piss off Tywhon, not that he needed any motivation as a senior, but he will be out to prove his defensive ability.

**PantherAlum09** · 03-01-2022, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by not a drake fan View Post

Well UNI was 6th in the conference in defensive efficiency as a team; all the guys on that list played on a team that had better defense. Judging defense is more subjective and it's harder to do, so you have to take the stats with a grain of salt. The defensive stats that most of the voters (steals, rebounds, etc) are using need to be adjusted for tempo to be worth anything at all, but you know that none of the voters are doing that.

If you want to look at b-ref's defensive win shares (not adjusted for tempo), UNI didn't have anybody in the top 20. Defensive rating, nobody in the top 20. That end of the floor is something that Jake has to get figured out in the offseason.

The only stat that we can really rely on is defensive team efficiency, which is adjusted for tempo and quality of opponents. And UNI was #153.

At the end of the day, people get too mad about these post season awards. Many of the people who are voting barely pay attention. Anyone who has been a fan of the conference for more than 5 minutes knows how things work.

There is some truth to the matter that as great of an offensive player AJ is, he does have some liabilities defensively. He busts his butt, but he lacks some of the quickness necessary to stay in front of guys. To be honest, a lot of our guys lack that quickness. I do think that will improve with Duax, Campbell, Anderson getting more minutes, but obviously most likely at the cost of some offensive efficiency. It's pretty tough to be great at both sides of the ball. Offense is usually the harder one to find, since defense can be coached up with effort to a certain extent.

**not a drake fan** · 03-01-2022, 04:12 PM

Agree with what you said.

Also to be clear, I wasn't trying to say that it's not possible to evaluate defense. I'm just saying that it's difficult and subjective and only a small percentage of fans/voters can do it. So for purposes of the awards, I would just ignore this if I was voting.

I saw a voter say that he voted for Mosley because he's the better defender, and I saw another voter say that he voted for AJ because Mosley is known to not be a good defender.

I for one am not able to evaluate defense effectively. I like how Kenpom just ignores this from an individual perspective. There is way too much going on for the stats to mean anything, and it's not much easier to do it with the eye test.

**BrockLesnar** · 03-01-2022, 04:20 PM

Originally posted by UNIpanther99 View Post

LARRY BIRD MVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- AJ Green, UNI
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR -- Terry Roberts, Bradley
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR -- Tucker DeVries, Drake
DEFENSIVE MVP -- Lucas Williamson, Loyola
SIXTH-MAN OF THE YEAR -- Bowen Born, UNI

2022 All-Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Team
First Team Yr. Pos. Ht. Hometown
AJ Green, UNI Jr. G 6-4 Cedar Falls (Iowa) Cedar Falls
Isiaih Mosley, Missouri St. Jr. G 6-5 Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge
Gaige Prim, Missouri St. Sr. F 6-9 Aurora (Colo.) Grandview (South Plains College)
Terry Roberts, Bradley Jr. G 6-3 North Amityville (N.Y.) Florida SouthWestern
Lucas Williamson, Loyola Gr. G 6-4 Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young

Second Team
Noah Carter, UNI So. F 6-6 Dubuque (Iowa) Dubuque Senior
Tucker DeVries, Drake Fr. G/F 6-7 Waukee (Iowa) Waukee
Marcus Domask, S. Illinois Jr. F 6-6 Waupun (Wis.) Waupun
Antonio Reeves, Illinois St. Jr. G 6-6 Chicago (Ill.) Simeon
Garrett Sturtz, Drake Sr. G 6-3 Newton (Iowa) Newton

Third Team
Ben Krikke, Valparaiso Jr. F 6-9 Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) Jasper Place
Rienk Mast, Bradley So. F 6-9 Groningen (Netherlands) Donar Groningen
Cooper Neese, Indiana St. Jr. G 6-4 Cloverdale (Ind.) Cloverdale
Braden Norris, Loyola Jr. G 6-0 Hilliard (Ohio) Hilliard Bradley (Oakland)
Roman Penn, Drake Sr. G 6-0 Calumet City (Ill.) Bishop Noll (Siena)

All-Newcomer Team
Tucker DeVries, Drake Fr. G/F 6-7 Waukee (Iowa) Waukee
Cameron Henry, Indiana St. Jr. G 6-6 Chesterfield (Va.) Lloyd C. Bird (Lincoln Memorial)
Kobe King, Valparaiso Sr. G 6-4 La Crosse (Wis) La Crosse Central (Wisconsin)
Chris Knight, Loyola Sr. F 6-7 Madison (Wis.) James Madison Mml. (Dartmouth)
Terry Roberts, Bradley Jr. G 6-3 North Amityville (N.Y.) Florida SouthWestern

All-Freshman Team
Tucker DeVries, Drake Fr. G/F 6-7 Waukee (Iowa) Waukee
Isaac Haney, Missouri St. Fr. G 6-2 Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo
Connor Hickman, Bradley Fr. G 6-3 Bloomington (Ind.) Bloomington South
Preston Ruedinger, Valpo Fr. G 6-2 Oshkosh (Wis.) Lourdes Academy
Blake Sisley, Evansville Fr. F 6-8 Santa Claus (Ind.) Heritage Hills

All-Defensive Team
Donovan Clay, Missouri St. Jr. G/F 6-8 Alton (Ill.) Alton High (Valparaiso)
Lance Jones, S. Illinois Jr. G 6-1 Evanston (Ill.) Evanston Township
Aher Uguak, Loyola Gr. F 6-7 Edmonton (Alberta) Harry Ainlay (New Mexico)
D.J. Wilkins, Drake Sr. G 6-2 Merrillville (Ind.) High (Florida SouthWestern)
Lucas Williamson, Loyola Gr. G 6-4 Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young

All-Bench Team (selected by beat writers)
Announced on Wednesday, March 2

Most-Improved Team (selected by beat writers)
Announced on Wednesday, March 2

Coach of the Year
(announced Thursday)

Other two time Larry Bird Player of the Year winners include:
Fred VanVleet, Doug McDermott, Darren Brooks, Kyle Korver, Hersey Hawkins, Xavier McDaniel, Lewis Lloyd, Larry Bird, and Junior Bridgeman

Great work on this post! Well deserved AJ, Noah, and Bowen! AJ is in elite company. Who knows? Maybe, one more year of improvement just might be enough to get signed in the NBA? Regardless, of how the 2023 draft goes. That exceeded my expectations.

**achrist70** · 03-02-2022, 10:47 AM

Some how Noah is not on the most improved team, you can argue Reeves for most improved, but to leave him off the team completely?

**UNIpanther99** · 03-02-2022, 02:52 PM

Every team probably has a gripe or two somewhere about these awards. It's going to be even more so next year when players from two additional teams are filling out the same number of award slots.

**BCPanther** · 03-02-2022, 03:00 PM

Originally posted by UNIpanther99 View Post

Every team probably has a gripe or two somewhere about these awards. It's going to be even more so next year when players from two additional teams are filling out the same number of award slots.

I'm personally looking forward to Murray being WAY overvalued in preseason awards only for them to hit the wall of reality that is a Valley schedule in mid-January. They're going to be highly competitive but they aren't going to be some big juggernaut. The coaching and scouting is going to shock them, this isn't a one off in December.

**unipanthers8907** · 03-03-2022, 10:51 AM

AJ also won Scholar Athlete of the Year, along with Marcus Domask of SIU. Larry Bird POY and Scholar Athlete of the Year. Not bad. Congrats AJ!

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Announcement

AJ Green is 2x Larry Bird Winner (and other awards)

AJ Green is 2x Larry Bird Winner (and other awards)

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