The ACC media has been doling out Player of the Year awards since 1954 and Defensive Player of the Year trophies since 2005. As of today, Malcolm Brogdon is the first player to win both. In addition, Brogdon was named first team All-ACC (for the third straight year) and to the All-Defensive team (for the second straight season). As a reminder of just how special this is, Malcolm is the first Virginia player to win the award since 1983, which is the year I was born. He’s just our third winner all time, joining Barry Parkhill (1972) and Ralph Sampson (1981-83), and the first player to make All-ACC first team for three straight years since Sean Singletary from 2006-2008.
Photo: Matt Riley,Jim Daves - VirginiaSports.com
I’m not surprised that Malcolm won either award. He’s certainly deserving. What surprised me is how lopsided the voting turned out. Malcolm landed 38 and 39 votes for Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, meaning that he was not only the media’s choice for those two awards but the only player with a serious chance. It goes down as a show of respect — for Malcolm and the exemplary student-athlete he is, for what he’s accomplished in his career and this season, and for our program — and will go down as one more chapter in the Legend of Uncle Malcolm.
The media has been great about publicizing all things Malcolm. Think of the stories you’ve seen about how he picked UVa over Harvard, lives on the Range, and wants to solve the water crisis in Africa. Then, compare it to what I’ve seen as an outsider on Brice Johnson (his coach sometimes benches him for lapses on defense) and Grayson Allen (obvious), and it’s less of a surprise that Malc ran away with a media award.
Malcolm’s bona fides are clear: 18.4 points per game (19.9 in ACC play) on 47.4% shooting (50.2% in ACC games), 41.1% on threes, and the third most win shares per 40 minutes (.226) in the ACC. Defensively, he frustrated or outright stonewalled most of the other ACC first and second team honorees, limiting Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, Cat Barber, Michael Gbinije, and Damion Lee in individual meetings.
Now, we just need the ACC’s coaches to make the lovefest unanimous. I’d also love for him to score the 71 points he needs to pass Curtis Staples and enter our top 10 all time, and for him to add another All-ACC Tournament team selection and a Regional MOP (for starters) to his trophy collection. Someday, I’d like to see #15 up in the rafters. I mean, who else in Virginia basketball history has ever combined this kind of on court success on both a team and individual level with what he does off of the floor?
Malc wasn’t alone in being honored. Anthony Gill was named to third team All-ACC (I had him second, but I stuck to positions in my selections) for the second consecutive season, and London Perrantes was named honorable mention All-ACC (I had him on the third team). We didn’t land a single vote for Most Improved (I was surprised London didn’t even warrant a mention) or Sixth Man (not surprised), or place anyone but Malcolm on the All-Defensive teams (AG’s surprise election last season was not repeated), but CTB did receive two votes for Coach of the Year, an award narrowly won by Jim Larrañaga over Buzz Williams.
I believe the coaches’ picks come out tomorrow. I could be wrong.
