Nivins named Big 5 Player of the Year
We finally have the answer to the season's last big question: Ahmad Nivins of St. Joe's has won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as the Big 5's Most Outstanding Player.
Nivins named Big 5 Player of the Year
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
We finally have the answer to the season's last big question: Ahmad Nivins of St. Joe's has won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as the Big 5's Most Outstanding Player.
You could argue for Dionte Christmas, and I would have if asked to vote at the end of the regular season. You could argue for Dante Cunningham, and if ballots were cast this week he'd probably have won it.
But regardless of timing, if you take either of them off their respective teams would it have anywhere near the kind of impact as St. Joe's without Nivins? No.
Having said that, the award is for Most Outstanding Player, not Most Valuable. But Nivins' numbers make one heck of a case: 19.2 points and 11.8 rebounds a game and 61.2% field goal shooting in an average of 39.3 minutes per game.
That last number is really something for a big man.
Cunningham averaged 16.1 points and 7.4 rebounds a game and shot 52.5 percent from the field, by comparison. Christmas averaged a City Series-best 19.5 points per game, but as a guard it's not as easy to make a straight statistical comparison to Nivins.
Who would you have chosen?
All-Big 5 First Team
C Ahmad Nivins (St. Joseph's)
F Dante Cunningham (Villanova)
G Scottie Reynolds (Villanova)
G Dionte Christmas (Temple)
G Rodney Green (La Salle)
All-Big 5 Second Team
F Lavoy Allen (Temple)
F Dwayne Anderson (Villanova)
G/F Reggie Redding (Villanova)
G Corey Fisher (Villanova)
G Tasheed Carr (St. Joseph's)
Comments (26)
end of regular season I would have gone Christmas Cunningham Nivins end of post season Cunningham, Christmas, Nivins Nivins gets this nod based on the popularity of his coach - he's really just a better than average player nothing great And yes I do not like St Joes much so take it for what it is worth— owlsrule- I will take it for what it's worth, which is nothing. You have no clue. Nivins got the award because of the popularity of his coach? And people around here don't like Fran Dunphy or Jay Wright? Please. He got it because he dominated all season and was a double-double machine. And he was top 5 in the nation in FG% while playing almost the entire game all the time.— 6thman
- What a joke. Remind me how St Joes finished the postseason? Oh yea that's right, THEY HAD NONE! The heart and soul of a Final Four team gets snubbed for a A10 team that went nowhere this year....— ak3883
- This is a freakin joke ! I agree 100% with ak3883 . Yo , 6thman, any decent player in the City could put up double-doubles in that lousy conference .— Joe R.
- "But regardless of timing, if you take either of them off their respective teams would it have anywhere near the kind of impact as St. Joe's without Nivins?" Remind me again what St. Joes did WITH Nivins?? What a joke— joey54321
- WHO VOTES ON THIS??? Complete joke. What exactly did SJUofPA accomplish WITH Nivins? Take him away, I think they could still miss the CBI. And Rodney Green over Dwayne Anderson???? WHAT?!?!?!?!— wcburrs_
- When did nova fans start caring about the Big 5 again? Regardless, you could make a case for any of the three, just congratulate the kid for an impressive season and career, and putting SJU on his back for many games this year, shooting 60% and playing for 39 minutes a game is a pretty rare accomplishment, give credit where it is due.— marylandhawk08
- 5 players between the first and second teams is disrespect? Classy post too by the way...— marylandhawk08
- Ice Cream Nivins as Big 5 POY is a joke. Ice Cream's numbers look like Michael Bradley's in 2001, except Bradley did it in the Big East, and for a top 50 team. Oh yeah, Bradley did not win Big 5 POY either that year, some guy who couldn't cut it at Nova did. This is a joke.— wcburrs_
- I don't mind being insulted... though we do have a Terms of Service and you ought to abide by that if you don't want your comment deleted.
- Ahmad couldn't cut it at nova? Now you're just making yourself look stupid, and as far as this "ice cream" business, I hope you're not suggesting Ahmad being soft, when a fair amount of Dante's points came from mid range jumpers. Dante had a great season and great run and congrats go to him, but don't insult Ahmad's numbers based on bias. Go to KenPom.com and compare their efficiency ratings amongst other things, and you will see why he is deserving of this honor.— marylandhawk08
- Jonathan Tannenwald, Are you honestly saying that Ice Cream Nivins had a better season than Dante Cunningham??? You can't be serious. Also, I love when Nova has a guy who puts up the best stats (Bradley, 2001, Williams 1997), the award goes to best player on the best team. But when Nova is the best team the award then goes to best stats in a mid-major conference, even if the player is SOFT and his team is terrible.— wcburrs_
- This is pretty funny. I love Ahmad, but I don't see how anybody can say he had a better season than Dante and keep a straight face.— hawk9156
- On a sad note. This is SJU's 3rd Big 5 POY in the past 5 years, without a single tournament win over that span. Villanova has 11 tournament wins over the past 5 years, and only 1 Big 5 POY. I like to laugh about this and rip on my Nova friends about this, but I think maybe we on Hawk Hill need to up our standards as to what a great season really is.— hawk9156
- And Villanova has won the Big 5 all 5 of those years. Villanova wins the Big 5, but we keep collecting this Big 5 POY awards!! Really sad now that I think about it some more.— hawk9156
- I hope Nivins doesn't fall under the radar of NBA scouts come draft time.— rjp516
- How is Nivins soft when he went up against double teams every night and still put up those numbers? How is he soft when he played every minute of almost every game? Yet Dante, who gets all his points off of unguarded mid-range jumpers, is a warrior? Please explain this to me.— tc399189
- Hey, if it makes SJU feel better, give it to them. What else do they have to celebrate? I think Cunningham would rather get to the final four out of the Big East than be in Nivins position as Big 5 POY with SJU out of the joke of a conference A10. And...Nova fans love the Big 5. Some students may not know much about it when they arrive on campus since the school admits many students from all over the country & world, but the students from the local area love watching Nova dominate the Big 5.— unreal
- As a hawk fan, I feel that the voters are actually doing an injustice to the tradition of the Big 5. Ahmad had a great season on a less than stellar team. Dante Cunningham led his team to the Final Four. Let's be a little realistic. Who achieved more for his team. We didn't even get considered for the NIT. I've been a huge Hawk fan my entire life and I think that the voters are being overly charitable by giving Ahmad the award. Did he have a good year? Yes. Did he lead his team to the post-season? Unfortunately, no. THWND.— Hawks2004
- Did Michael Bradley's name just get brought up? Really? Coming from a Nova grad here, but can we leave the Jermaine Medley/Jair Vledhaus/Michael Bradely era in the past? This is a "Most Outstanding" award, not "Valuable". It doesn't have to go to the best player on the best team. Nivens put up some monster numbers this year, who cares who it was against. Did anyone question Leston Hudson, Kenny Hasbrouck, Eric Maynor or Curry this year because of who they played? Nope. How about another forward, Diamon Simpson out at Saint Mary's? That guy gets nothing but praise for putting up huge numbers against Pepperdine and UC-Berkley all year. It's not like the Big 5 said Dante and Christmas are just a couple chumps with no game. They just gave the award to Nivens instead. Relax.— ncatra01
- Wow. That's far and away the most insightful thing I think any SJU fan has ever said. (Which I don't mean to be as condescending as it sounds--let's say it's the most insightful thing a SJU fan has said about Nova and even vice versa). I don't want to jump on Nivins' case, because he did have a great year. But seriously, this is A-Rod winning MVP on a last place Rangers team. Who Cares? Hell, if it's becoming the tournament jinx it seems to be, keep that kryptonite to yourselves. I would gladly take an NCAA Regional MVP for Reynolds any day of the week. However, congrats to Nivins for putting up spectacular numbers on a horrendous team. Whoop-dee-doo. I actually can't thank Hawk9156 enough for his candor. If St. Joe's ended up running train in the tournament, but a Nova player had spectacularly meaningless statistical achievements, I would hope that I would have the gumption to make the same entirely true point. Dante's the player of the year, because Nova destroyed the Big 5 (again), and he's their leading scorer and heart and soul. Case Closed. If you want to keep throwing numbers around, fine; I'll go cuddle with my Final Four T-Shirt.— nikolijobes
- what kind of numbers would Nivins have put up in the big east? Good player, but he'll be exposed at the Portsmouth Invitational this week.— mattymo
- 6TH MAN While Dunph and Jay are very popular around Philly - they are no where near the media hound martelli is - see WIP, Comcast ect. ect. Thats what I mean about his popularity, the media will go out of their way to keep him and his program relevant as they slowly slide down that slope to mediocrity. I certainly have repect for your opinion and unlike you will refrain from insults. Still does not change the fact that Nivins did not have as good a year as Christmas or Cunningham and in my OPINION is just a better than average player— owlsrule
- Not to take anything away from Ahmad, but Cunningham carried Nova to the Final Four. Ahmad took us nowhere this year. He didn't have the best supporting cast, but he certainly had the numbers. Based on pure numbers I guess you could consider him for the Player of the Year. Unfortunately, Cunningham seems like ano-brainer to me. THWND!!!— Hawks2004
Comment removed.- This is hilarious. Another reason why Nova should really leave the Big 5. Most Nova fans don't even care about it, while some probably don't even know what it is. All it does is soften up its out of conference schedule anyways.— sports2012
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Soft Pretzel Logic is Philly.com's college sports blog, with a primary focus on the University of Pennsylvania. You'll also see coverage of the Big 5, other major college sports events in the region, and the annual Penn Relays track and field meet.
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
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