Preseason All-MAAC Men's Basketball First Team Announced
MAAC Sports
Preseason All-MAAC Men’s Basketball First Team Announced
EDISON, NJ – The 2013-14 All-MAAC Preseason Men’s Basketball First Team, as selected by the league’s head coaches, has it all: scoring, rebounding, defense, inside-outside game, and veteran leadership. There aren’t too many coaches who wouldn’t want to go to battle with this group.
The MAAC Preseason First Team is made up of Sean Armand and David Laury of Iona, Rhamel Brown and George Beamon of Manhattan, Canisius’ Billy Baron and Niagara’s Antoine Mason.
Armand is recognized as one of the MAAC’s, and the nation's, top shooters, and is the league’s leading returning three-point shooter, hitting 3.3 per game and shooting .409 from beyond the arc last season. The 6-5, 200-pound senior guard is the MAAC’s third leading returning scorer after averaging 16.6 points per game in 2012-13, playing in a backcourt that included last year’s Player of the Year, Lamont Jones, who averaged 22.6 points per game. Armand, who earned All-MAAC second team honors last season, poured in 32 points, and hit nine three-point field goals, in a victory over Canisius.
Brown was an inside presence for the Jaspers last season at both ends of the floor. The 6-7, 230-pound senior was the MAAC’s Defensive Player of the Year and was 10th in the country in blocked shots, averaging 3.3 rejections per game. An All-MAAC second team choice last season, Brown averaged 11.4 points and was fifth in rebounding at 7.2 caroms per game. Brown shot .549 from the floor and grabbed 3.3 offensive rebounds per game. Brown was the MAAC’s Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore as well.
Baron is the league’s second leading returning scorer (17.2 points) and top returning playmaker (5.0 assists per game). Baron poured in 584 points, the seventh best all time single season mark for Canisius, and was a key factor as the Golden Griffs recorded a 15-game turnaround last season, third best in the NCAA. The 6-2, 195-pound Baron, a first team All-MAAC selection last year, shot .382 from beyond the three-point arc, and also added 4.1 rebounds per game. He tallied 33 points in a win over rival Niagara.
Mason earned first team All-MAAC honors last season after averaging 18.7 points per game for the Purple Eagles.The league’s top returning scorer, the 6-3, 210-pound Mason scored in double figures in 28 of the 29 games he played in last season, including a career high 30 points in an overtime win over Iona. Mason, a red-shirt junior, became only the third player in Niagara to surpass the 1,000 point mark in his career as a sophomore.
Laury burst on to the scene for Iona last season after sitting out the Gaels first nine games to satisfy NCAA transfer guidelines. Laury scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in his Iona debut, and went on to earn All-MAAC third team honors. The 6-9, 255-pound junior was a force inside for the Gaels, and grabbed 17 rebounds on two occasions, and 16 caroms three times. He’s the only MAAC returnee to have averaged a “double-double” with 13.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
Beamon was averaging 16.8 points and 2.3 steals last year after four games for the Jaspers, before he was sidelined with a season-ending injury. The year before (2011-12) the 6-4, 175-pound swingman led the MAAC and was 24th in the country in scoring averaging 19.0 points per game. Beamon added 5.6 rebounds per game, and finished in the Top 10 in the MAAC in field goal percentage, free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage, three point field goals made and steals in 2011-12. Beamon earned third team All-MAAC honors as a sophomore, averaging 16.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
The MAAC will announce the 2013-14 Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year on Thursday, October 17.
Remember to join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #MAACHoops.
ALL-MAAC Preseason First Team
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Sean Armand
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Iona
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Senior
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Guard
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6-5
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200
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Brooklyn, N.Y./CJEOTO Academy (NJ)/Jacqueline Onassis
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Rhamel Brown
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Manhattan
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Senior
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Forward
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6-7
|
230
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Brooklyn, N.Y./Transit Tech
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Billy Baron
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Canisius
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Senior
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Guard
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6-2
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195
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E. Greenwich, R.I./Bishop Hendricken/Rhode Island
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Antoine Mason
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Niagara
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R-Junior
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Guard
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6-3
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210
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Queens, N.Y./New Rochelle
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David Laury
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Iona
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Junior
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Forward
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6-9
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255
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East Orange, N.J./Lamar State – Port Arthur (TX)/Nia Prep
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George Beamon
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Manhattan
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Senior
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Guard/Forward
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6-4
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175
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Roslyn, N.Y./Roslyn
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.