Handing Out Post-Season Hardware

With the conclusion of the Ivy League basketball season, it becomes time to hand out the postseason awards. With the Penn Quakers capturing their third consecutive Ivy title and NCAA Tournament birth, it's time to recognize the highs and lows of conference play. A couple of rules to keep these awards realistic-only conference statistics are used and seniority, along with team performance, counts.

Player of the Year: Mark Zoller, Penn. The senior Penn forward should edge out teammate Ibrahim Jaaber, last year's award winner. Zoller has become the league's dominant big man, averaging over 15 points a game, shooting over 57 percent from the field, and placing second in the league's rebounding tables, while still creating for his teammates by averaging nearly four assists a game. New head coach Glen Miller's offense has benefited Zoller's game, and the senior has been the force behind the backbone of the Quakers' offense this season. His consistency has been remarkable, scoring double digits in all but one of his Ivy games, which, of course, was Penn's only loss in conference play. The Quakers will go as far as Zoller can take them in the tournament. Just missed: Jaaber, Mark McAndrew

First Team All-Ivy: Eric Flato, Jaaber, McAndrew, Zoller, and John Baumann. Jaaber joins McAndrew on the first team as he seamlessly transitioned to the point guard position. More importantly, he continued his presence as a defensive menace in the passing lanes, while using the quickness to regularly force Ivy opponents to build their defenses around him. McAndrew, a junior guard, took a huge step forward in Brown's new offense, leading the league in scoring. McAndrew has turned himself into a high percentage shooter that will put the ball on the floor and get himself to the free throw line. He'll be joined by Baumann, who might be the league's most underrated player. Baumann led the Lions in scoring while shooting over 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. The Lions went as Baumann did-he had huge games in nearly all of their wins. The final spot is up for grabs, and with apologies to Cornell's Andrew Naeve, Eric Flato gets the nod. Although Flato's shot selection still needs plenty of work, he kept his team in title contention for the vast majority of the conference season. Flato is best when he drives to the basket-something he's going to have to do better for the Elis to once again be in title contention next season. Just missed: Andrew Naeve, Brian Grandieri, Leon Pattman, Ryan Wittman

Coach of the Year: Craig Robinson, Brown. I may be going out on a bit of a limb in casting my vote for the coach of a six-win team in league play, but Robinson has worked miracles with this Bears squad. Working with less talent than any other Ivy coach and losing his best player in guard Keenan Jeppesen, Robinson was able to instill discipline in his squad. Damon Huffman and McAndrew both had strong seasons for Robinson, and his scrappy team was in almost every conference game right down to the stretch. He's going to have to be patient, but Robinson looks to be the right man to turn this Brown program around. Although Miller won the Ivy title and James Jones kept his team in the race until the blowout loss to Columbia, it's Robinson who did the most with the least. Just missed: Miller, Jones

Biggest Disappointment: Joe Scott, Princeton. It's sad to see how far the Tigers' program has fallen under Scott's leadership. Scott Greenman's penchant for the miraculous allowed the Tigers to finish at an inflated 10-4 last season, but Scott will have no such luck this season, finishing in the Ivy cellar. His puzzling substitution patterns have kept Noah Savage and Luke Owings on the bench, and his continued insistence that his team would have been competitive but for Kyle Koncz's injury is just another excuse for a program that is moving in the wrong direction. His disciplinarian techniques have rubbed people the wrong way, and it's difficult to understand Scott's recruiting strategy. With Jeff Peterson's commitment in question, the Tigers are a far cry from the program that used to strike fear at the national level.

Rookie of the Year: Ryan Wittman, Cornell. The dead-eye shooter is the son of a basketball coach and played with the confidence to push through slumps. Despite drawing double teams, Wittman was the Big Red's go-to player down the stretch in games. Just missed: Louis Dale, Patrick Foley
Defensive Player of the Year: Ibrahim Jaaber, Penn. Jaaber continued his assault on the record books, picking up nearly three steals a game. His ability to force turnovers and create opportunities for his teammates off his defensive play was a huge part of the Quakers' success. Just missed: Casey Hughes

Sixth Man of the Year: Patrick Foley, Columbia. Foley split time at the point guard position, nearly evenly with Brett Loscalzo this season but was Columbia's number-two scorer in league play at nearly 10 points a game. He had more assists than turnovers and was on the floor for almost all of Columbia's extended runs. His ability to drive the ball gave the Lions' offense a completely new look. Just missed: Travis Pinick, Luke Owings, Alex Tyler

Most Exciting: Leon Pattman, Dartmouth. When on a roll, there's not a prettier player in the league. With his ability to take defenders off the dribble and shoot fadeaway jumpers, a healthy Pattman is nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately, injuries have prevented Pattman from reaching his true potential. Just missed: Jaaber, Hughes

Best Decision: Steve Bilsky's hiring of Glen Miller. Despite coming off a mediocre season at Brown, Miller was correctly identified by Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky as a great coaching mind. Under Miller, the Quakers once again won the Ivy League and are poised to at least be competitive in the NCAA Tournament. Miller makes terrific in-game adjustments, and if he can recruit as well as he can coach, the Quakers will continue to be a dominating team in Ivy play. Just missed: Steve Donahue's faith in his freshmen

Worst Decision: Brian Cusworth's shocker. With just one semester of eligibility remaining, Harvard senior center Brian Cusworth played in the fall to fulfill Harvard's graduation policy. Cusworth and Harvard's decision was different from precedents set by players such as Dominick Martin of Yale, and it probably cost the Crimson a few wins during Ivy play. Those wins may have even been enough to save head coach Frank Sullivan's job. Just missed: The Ivy athletic directors' decision to revisit the topic of a conference tournament, Penn's rejection of Keenan Jeppesen's transfer application