Player of the Year
Kenny Adeleke
Adeleke, who was named America East Player of the Week for a record eighth time on Feb. 27, has single-handily turned Hartford into a contender. The Hawks went from last place in the conference to the No. 4 seed in one season.
Adeleke led the AE in scoring with 20.5 ppg and rebounds with 12.9 rpg. The 6-foot-9 senior center also led the conference in field goal percentage (58.3 percent) and is second in blocked shots, averaging 1.77 bpg. He tied Malik Rose’s conference record for most double-doubles in a single season with 23.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Binghamton senior guard Andre Heard
Albany senior guard Jamar Wilson
Rookie of the Year
Mike Trimboli
Drawing comparisons to recent Vermont graduate TJ Sorrentine, the 6-foot-1 point guard plays like anything but a freshman.
Trimboli is averaging 14.1 ppg, the most of any rookie and good for seventh in the America East. He is also an assist machine averaging 5.69 apg, which is first in the conference. He is the second player in AE history to win the first three Rookie of the Week awards. Trimboli then won the award a fourth time in mid-January.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Boston guard Corey Hassan
Maine’s Philippe Tchekane Bofia
Coach of the Year
Albany’s Will Brown
In his fifth season as Albany’s head coach, Brown led the Great Danes to their first-ever America East regular season title and top seed in the conference tournament. However, his true test has yet to come. Albany has never made it to the semifinals under Brown and anything short of a trip to the finals this season would be a disappointment.
Last season, Albany finished fourth in the conference with a 9-9 record and were 13-15 overall. The Great Danes returned four of their five starters and Brown led them to a 13-3 conference record (18-10 overall).
HONORABLE MENTION:
Binghamton’s Al Walker
Hartford’s Larry Harrison
Biggest Disappointment
Maine
Picked to finish third in the America East, Maine ended up with a 7-9 conference record and will be the seven seed in the upcoming conference tournament. It didn’t help that preseason All-Conference pick Kevin Reed missed the year with a stress fracture in his left foot.
The Black Bears also had a tough overall schedule as they faced five teams that either participated in the NCAA tournament or NIT last season.
Senior guard Ernest Turner helped offset Reed’s injury, averaging 15.2 ppg, but this definitely wasn’t the season Maine was hoping for.
Game of the Year
Vermont at Binghamton, Jan. 25
It was a sloppy game, but Binghamton prevailed in double overtime to beat the Catamounts 61-60.
Despite shooting 28 percent from the field and being outrebounded by 24, the Bearcats overcame a 10-point second-half deficit. Senior Sebastian Hermenier scored a game-high 17 points, all coming from the free-throw line.
The game featured 11 ties, 11 lead changes and a lot of potentially game-winning shots. Senior guard Andre Heard hit a three-pointer at the start of the second overtime, which put Binghamton up for good.
HONORABLE MENTION
UMBC at Maine, Feb. 23
Ernerst Turner hit a half-court shot as time expired to give Maine, who at one point trailed by as many as 20, the 69-66 win on Senior Day.
Hartford at UMBC, Jan. 15
Kenny Adeleke scored on a tip-in with 0.6 seconds remaining to give Hartford the 74-73 win. The Hawks had trailed by 10 with five minutes to play.