Green Named ACC Player of the Year

Virginia Tech guard Erick Green has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, as selected by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association on Tuesday.

The crowd engages Erick Green following Virginia Tech’s win over Oklahoma State.

Green received 38 of the 76 votes cast. Miami’s Shane Larkin was second with 23 votes and Duke’s Mason Plumlee was third with 12 votes.

The senior from Winchester, Va., becomes the first Virginia Tech player named the ACC Player of the Year. Green was named first team All-ACC yesterday by ACSMA.

“I am extremely proud of Erick,” head coach James Johnson said. “This is an honor that is well deserved. This young man has put in numerous hours and has relentlessly worked on his game to put himself in this position. To have the respect of the media and for people to recognize what he has done for this team, in such a tough conference against very good players and very good coaches, says a lot about Erick as a player. Erick is a great kid on and off the floor and the award couldn’t come to a better person.”

Green is the third Virginia Tech player to earn a conference’s Player of the Year award, joining Bimbo Coles in 1988 and Dell Curry in 1986, who won the Metro Conference Player of the Year Award. Green joins the late Len Bias of Maryland in 1986 as the only ACC Player of the Year honorees to play on a team in the bottom half of the league standings.

The nation’s leading scorer, Green has scored in double figures in every game this season and leads the ACC in scoring in both overall games and conference games. He is averaging 25.4 points per game and is shooting 48.2 percent from the field. He also leads the ACC in minutes played (36.4 mpg).

Green set a new shool record with 786 points scored this season, breaking the old mark of 785 by Bimbo Coles in the 1989-90 season. In the regular season finale at Wake Forest on Sunday, he scored his 1,700th career point and moved past Ace Custis into 10th place in career scoring at Virginia Tech.

The Hokies will return to action on Thursday, March 14, as they will play NC State in the first round of the 60th ACC Tournment in Greensboro, N.C.

19 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Erick was well deserving of this honor. Thanks for all who voted for him. His future is very bright. Good Luck to him and let’s beat NC State!

  2. Eric Green’s legacy will be difficult to eclipse. He developed what seemed to be average talent his freshman year into the best there is in the ACC. He did this with an unparalleled work ethic that has set the benchmark for every player that puts on a Hokie uniform. As much as I enjoyed watching him score in unimaginable ways, I was more impressed by his effort and attitude on the court. He was always smiling and having fun. He was always chatting up the refs and even the players on the other team. It’s obvious that he loves the game and the competition. I enjoyed the greats from the past, but for my money, there hasn’t been a better player or role model than Eric Green. Retire his jersey NOW! Thanks for a great four years. Wishing him health, wealth and great success in the NBA!

  3. Congrats to Erick. No one worked any harder than EG to get where he is. And no one got the results that EG did.

  4. Great accomplishment by a very deserving young Hokie. Was a joy to watch him play and become the great scorer that he is. I also agree that his jersy should be retired with the other great Hokies that have played at VT. I hope he has great success at the next level, I am sure he will.

  5. A great season for a great player and a great person–A GREAT HOKIE! The Cassell won’t be the same. We’ll miss you and pull for you in the Big Time!

  6. I think we need to retire his number and post his picture with the other four Tech players in The Castle with their numbers retired.

    1. Let’s not get carried away. I would say a minimum of AA status would be necessary. He’s somewhere around 10th on the all-time scoring leaders at VT, just past Jeff Allen. Is Jeff Allen even in the conversation? Didn’t think so. Though there’s more stats to consider other than scoring, he had ONE great yr.

  7. Really proud of Erick. I think he may be my favorite Hokie BB player of all time. A good player and a good person. Keep going!

  8. “Major Congats!” young man.

    go get ’em in the tourney, and … then the nba.

    . -.- VT -.- .

    someone please organize the “hang the Erick Green banner campaign.” VT needs to do that for Erick’s sake, recruiting, and the future of the hoops program.

    Allan, Dell, Ace, Bimbo, and Erick

  9. Congrats Erick!!

    But I wonder how many minutes he played compared to Bimbo Coles? Given the short bench this year, Erick played a lot of minutes. I wonder if he would still be the top scorer if it were points per minute played?

    1. Doesn’t really matter. Look how efficient he was. only 17 shots per game. Bimbo had more, I’m sure.

      1. For Bimbo’s career, he averaged 17.6 shots per game, 33.2 minutes per game, and shot 43% from the field.

        For Bimbo’s senior year, he averaged 22.3 shots per game, 37.0 minutes per game, and shot 40% from the field.

        Erick had a senior year that was a bit better, statistically. But Bimbo was playing 34+ minutes and scoring 24+ppg for three straight years.

  10. Wow! Wasn’t expecting this. Although he most definitely deserves it, I was expecting the POY award to go to someone who didn’t play for the last-place team in the conference.

    My compliments to the voters for being willing to look at individual achievement rather than team results in determining their vote, and congratulations to Erick Green!!! The kid has had one of the greatest individual seasons in VT basketball history.

    1. ‘Stud, I agree completely; hats off to the voters for Erick that were able to view his accomplishments despite the fact Tech has a losing record. Erick deserves this honor!

  11. Awesome surprise! Congrats to a great Hokie!

    I didn’t think there was a chance, he would get the award…based on history, politics, etc….but very happy for Erick…now the rest of the team can say congrats, by helping Erick take down the Pack on Thursday!

    …got to play some defense, and rebound the ball though!

    1. You took the words out of my mouth….well, not the beating NCState part, although I can buy into that.

      I was surprised, too…thought Plumlee would get it with season double double average.

      I did notice that no one came within 8 points of EG’s average…actually that’s pretty incredible to score around 47% better than anyone else in consideration for POY.

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