Maynor Repeats as CAA Player of the Year

03/05/09
Richmond, VA

I have been trying to put Brett Blizzard behind me for years.  He was CAA Rookie of the Year, First-Team All-Conference, All-CAA Tournament and CAA Tournament MVP.  He was named a First Team All CAA selection all 4 years at UNCW.  No one has ever done that!

Oh yeah, he absolutely owned VCU too.  During his four years at UNCW, '99-'03, he averaged 19.9 ppg against the Mighty Rams.   He scored more then 20 points in a game 5 times against us.  He single handily murdered us in the '02 tournament final and he dropped 27 on us in his final game against the Rams at the Siegel.

Not to mention, he has his own School of Basketball Fundamentals, 1.18 million hits on Google and to top it all off he got Jerry Wainwright a job in the Big East.

Why is all this relevant?

Its relevant because Eric Maynor is the first repeat winner of the CAA Player of the Year award since Brett Blizzard did it in 2002 and 2003.

Its wasn't really a surprise that the senior guard was selected for the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball Player of the Year.  Maynor led the Rams to a 21-9 overall record and a third straight CAA regular season title.  He became just the second player in conference history to lead the league in scoring, 22.4 ppg, and assists, 6.2 apg, in the same season and he is one of only two players in Division I to be ranked in the top 20 nationally in scoring, 8th, and assists, 9th.

Maynor, who was also selected First Team All-CAA for the third consecutive year, became VCU’s all-time leading scorer in the Rams’ final home game against Georgia State.  He set the school’s assist record earlier on the season season.

Maynor was not the only Ram to be honored Thursday night.  Larry Sanders was named CAA Defensive Player of the Year. The Condor led the CAA in blocked shots for the second straight year with 77. He is also ranks third in the conference in rebounding with 8 boards per game. Sanders grabbed double digit rebounds 10 times and recorded eight double-doubles during the course of the season, queue the obligatory reference to Larry Sanders' ridiculous 7'7" wingspan.  He was also named to the Second Team All-CAA.

Freshman Bradford Burgess was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team. Burgess averaged 7.2 ppg and 3.7 rpg. He also started all 30 games for the Rams this season.

So once again I am forced to relive nightmares of Brett Blizzard knocking down threes from all points on the floor. Spurred on by throngs of crazed over tanned middle aged women shouting catchy slogans like "Feel the Teal" while waving Sea Hawk sock puppets high in the air. However this time it is different. This time its our guy. Now we are the number one seed with the number one player.


Suck it Blizzard!

VCU hs a bye on Firday's first round of the CAA Tournament. They will take on the winner of No. 8 Georgia State and No. 9 Delaware in the quarterfinals Saturday at noon.