For Your Consideration: Corey Lowe and John Holland

It's been said before, but let me say it again: LoweHolland08.

The America East end of the season awards are announced at the tournament banquet tomorrow. BU has two players who, if they aren't awarded... well, they might make Ocean's 14 about that robbery. The coaches vote on this, so fellas - don't screw this up.

Corey Lowe... for First Team All-America East
For the first half of the season, Corey was all we had. He did everything he could to put the team on his back and carry them across the finish line. The frustration definitely showed at times - the road trip he missed, the transfer rumors. But in the end, Corey showed how important he is to the program. The emergence of Holland during the conference season may have lightened the load on Corey, but he responded by being even better than before - he kept putting up the points, but his assist numbers went way up. With Tyler having a tough season with injuries, he became a leader on the floor. We have no illusions here - nobody is knocking Marqus Blakely off the AE Player of the Year pedestal this year. But Corey is truly among the best three players in the conference, and deserving of this honor.

The facts:
18.5 points per game (#2 in the conference)
3.42 assists per game (#7 in the conference)
3.79 3-pointers per game (#1 in the conference)


John Holland... for America East Rookie of the Year AND Third Team All-America East
It wasn't until the conference season began that Johnny began getting major minutes on the floor. His accomplishments have been well documented here and elsewhere. He was the only freshman to prove that he can truly dominate a game, capped off by his otherworldly performance at "Senior" Night against Hartford. It was no coincidence that Johnny's emergence came right at the moment that BU started to win games, winning 8 of the final 10 games of the season. He just finished the regular season with the last 5 AE Rookie of the Week awards. His stats are WAY ahead of Blakely's during Blakely's freshman year last year. Marqus is clearly dominant now, but their games are similar... except Johnny's got a jump shot. John Holland is a force to be reckoned with in the next 3 years, and should easily become BU's second consecutive Rookie of the Year. In my mind he's also one of the best 15 players in the league, and deserves the coaches' votes for 3rd Team All-AE.

The facts:
11.5 points per game (#2 among rookies)... 15.5 in AE play (#1)
4.9 rebounds per game (#2 among rookies)... 6.8 in AE play (#1)
1.57 steals per game (#1 among rookies)... 2.13 in AE play (#1)