ACC Player of the Year Malcolm Brogdon of Virginia leads the 2015-16 Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACSMA) postseason basketball awards and all-conference team announced on Sunday.
Brogdon, who was also voted the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, was named the overall ACC Player of the Year by 38 of the 51 ACSMA members casting ballots. The group also chose Duke’s Brandon Ingram as the ACC Freshman of the Year.
Miami’s Jim Larrañaga was voted the ACC Coach of the Year, while North Carolina junior Isaiah Hicks earns recognition as Sixth Man of the Year. Clemson junior Jaron Blossomgame was voted the ACC’s Most Improved Player.
Brogdon and North Carolina senior Brice Johnson are unanimous choices to the All-ACC first team. They are joined by NC State junior Anthony “Cat” Barber, Duke sophomore Grayson Allen and Clemson’s Blossomgame.
A redshirt senior from Atlanta, Brogdon led the Cavaliers to a 24-6 overall record, a 13-5 ACC mark and the No. 2 seed for this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. He enters the ACC Tournament as the league’s fourth-leading scorer at 18.4 points and ranks 10th in field goal percentage (.474).
Brogdon ranks second among ACC free-throw shooters (.878 percent) and made 42 consecutive from the foul line late in the season. He leads a Virginia defensive unit that has limited opponents to an ACC-low 59.6 points per game and ranks fourth in field goal percentage defense (.416 percent).
North Carolina’s Johnson leads the ACC in rebounding (10.8) and field goal percentage (.606) while ranking sixth in scoring at 16.8 points per game. He led the Tar Heels (25-6, 14-4 ACC) to the regular-season title with a league-leading 19 double-doubles (12 in ACC play) and has posted two games with more than 20 rebounds.
NC State’s Barber leads the conference in scoring at 23.4 points per game and has scored 30-or-more points an ACC-leading eight times this season. The junior guard also ranks among the conference leaders in assists (4.3) per game while pulling down 4.6 rebounds and playing a league-leading 38.7 minutes per game.
Duke’s Allen ranks second among ACC scorers with 21.5 points per game, fourth in 3-point shooting (.423 percent) and eighth in overall shooting from the floor (.475 percent). He joins Virginia’s Brogdon and North Carolina’s Johnson as an Oscar Robertson Trophy finalist after scoring in double figures in 29 games (20 straight entering the ACC Tournament).
Clemson’s Blossomgame averages 18.6 points per game to rank third in the conference and has scored 20-or-more points in 15 games. Blossomgame’s big scoring nights have included games of 33 and 31 points. Blossomgame ranks among the ACC leaders in field goal percentage (.516) and is averaging 6.7 rebounds per game.
Syracuse’s Michael Gbinije (17.6 ppg, 4.5 apg) Miami’s Sheldon McClellan (15.7 ppg, .852 FT percentage), Notre Dame’s Demetrius Jackson (15.9 ppg, 4.97 apg), Louisville’s Damion Lee (15.7 ppg, .843 FT percentage) and Duke’s Ingram (16.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg) comprise the ACSMA All-ACC second team.
Georgia Tech’s Marcus Georges-Hunt (16.6 ppg, 18.1 ppg in ACC play), Virginia’s Anthony Gill (13.6 ppg, .556 FG percentage), Notre Dame’s Zach Auguste (14.5 ppg, 10.4 rpg), Pitt’s Michael Young (16.1 ppg, 54 percent shooting from the floor) and Miami’s Angel Rodriguez (11.6 ppg, 4.3 apg) earned third-team All-ACC honors in the ACSMA voting.
After being overwhelmingly chosen as the ACC preseason Freshman of the Year by the league’s media members last October, Duke’s Ingram lived up to his billing by ranking seventh among conference scorers (16.7 ppg) and 14th in rebounding (6.8) and ninth in blocked shots (1.42). Ingram is the third consecutive Duke player and the fourth in the last five years to be recognized as ACSMA’s ACC Freshman of the Year.
Miami’s Larrañaga was chosen the ACC Coach of the Year for the second time in his five years with the Hurricanes. Miami (24-6 overall) shared second place in the final ACC standings and enters the ACC Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Hurricanes went 9-0 in home conference games and were 5-2 against fellow ranked teams. Miami is currently ranked seventh nationally and has been ranked among the nation’s top 15 a school-record 12 weeks this season.
Hicks helped North Carolina to its regular-season first-place finish by averaging 9.2 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting .606 percent from the floor and .757 percent from the foul line. Hicks has come off of the bench in 28 of the Tar Heels’ 31 games while averaging 18.1 minutes.
Duke’s Ingram is joined on the All-ACC Freshman Team by Florida State’s Dwayne Bacon (15.8 ppg) and Malik Beasley (15.7 ppg), Syracuse’s Malachi Richardson (13.2 ppg) and Wake Forest’s Bryant Crawford (13.6 ppg).
Miami’s Tonye Jekiri, Syracuse’s Gbinije, Clemson’s Landry Nnoko and Louisville’s Chinanu Onuaku join Brogdon on the 2015-16 All-ACC Defensive Team.
2015-16 ACSMA All-ACC Teams
(First-place votes, followed by total points)
All-Atlantic Coast Conference
First Team
Brice Johnson, Sr., North Carolina, 51, *255
Malcolm Brogdon, Sr., Virginia, 51, *255
Cat Barber, Jr., NC State, 48, 249
Grayson Allen, So., Duke, 47, 247
Jaron Blossomgame, Jr., Clemson, 32, 213
Second Team
Michael Gbinije, Sr., Syracuse, 8, 155
Sheldon McClellan, Sr., Miami, 6, 136
Demetrius Jackson, Jr., Notre Dame, 3, 130
Brandon Ingram, Fr., Duke, 4, 129
Damion Lee, Sr., Louisville, 1, 90
Third Team
Marcus Georges-Hunt, Sr., Georgia Tech, 76
Anthony Gill, Sr., Virginia, -, 70
Zach Auguste, Sr., Notre Dame, -, 45
Michael Young, Jr., Pittsburgh, -, 37
Angel Rodriguez, Sr., Miami, 3, 35
Honorable Mention:
Justin Jackson, North Carolina; Tonye Jekiri, Miami; Zach LeDay, Virginia Tech; Chinanu Onuaku, Louisville; Marcus Paige, North Carolina; London Perrantes, Virginia; Devin Thomas, Wake Forest.
All-ACC Freshman Team
Brandon Ingram, Duke, *51
Dwayne Bacon, Florida State, 50
Malik Beasley, Florida State, 49
Malachi Richardson, Syracuse, 34
Bryant Crawford, Wake Forest, 28
All-ACC Defensive Team
Malcolm Brogdon, Sr., Virginia, 49
Tonye Jekiri, Sr., Miami, 39
Michael Gbinije, Sr., Syracuse, 36
Landry Nnoko, Sr., Clemson, 30
Chinanu Onuaku, So., Louisville, 27
ACC Player of the Year
Malcolm Brogdon, Sr., Virginia, 38
Brice Johnson, Sr., North Carolina, 9
Cat Barber, Jr., NC State, 3
Grayson Allen, So., Duke, 1
ACC Freshman of the Year
Brandon Ingram, Duke, 48
Dwayne Bacon, Florida State, 1
Malik Beasley, Florida State, 1
Malachi Richardson, Syracuse, 1
ACC Coach of the Year
Jim Larrañaga, Miami, 24
Buzz Williams, Virginia Tech, 22
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 2
Roy Williams, North Carolina, 1
Brad Brownell, Clemson, 1
Brian Gregory, Georgia Tech, 1
ACC Defensive Player of the Year
Malcolm Brogdon, Sr., Virginia, 39
Tonye Jekiri, Sr., Miami, 9
Michael Gbinije, Sr., Syracuse, 1
Marshall Plumlee, Sr., Duke, 1
Chinanu Onuaku, So., Louisville, 1
ACC Most Improved Player of the Year
Jaron Blossomgame, Jr., Clemson, 21
Grayson Allen, So., Duke, 15
Cat Barber, Jr., NC State, 4
Zach LeDay, Jr., Virginia Tech, 4
Ja’Quan Newton, So., Miami, 2
Joel Berry, So., North Carolina, 2
Marcus Georges-Hunt, Sr., Georgia Tech, 1
Dennis Clifford, Sr., Boston College, 1
Chinanu Onuaku, So., Louisville, 1
ACC Sixth Man of the Year
Isaiah Hicks, Jr., North Carolina, 19
Ja’Quan Newton, So., Miami, 12
Luke Kennard, Fr., Duke, 7
Tyler Lydon, Fr., Syracuse, 6
Devon Bookert, Sr., Florida State, 6
Sheldon Jeter, Jr., Pittsburgh, 1
* — Unanimous selection