Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
LAKEPOINT, Ga. – Following a historic regular season, the FGCU men’s basketball team added to its trophy case on Sunday when Brandon Goodwin was named the ASUN Newcomer of the Year, Demetris Morant was tabbed as the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and Joe Dooley garnered ASUN Coach of the Year honors.
Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) was also named to the five-player ASUN First Team, continuing a stretch of FGCU having at least one representative on the First Team for five-straight years – the longest current streak of any ASUN member. The redshirt junior transfer becomes the first player in program history to be named ASUN Newcomer of the Year, and he did so in unanimous fashion as every head coach in the league voted for Goodwin.
Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS) entered the year as the ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and lived up to that throughout the 2016-17 campaign. The uber-athletic 6-9 forward led the league in blocks at 1.5 per game en route to becoming the second FGCU player (Bernard Thompson, 2013) to be named ASUN Defensive Player of the Year.
Dooley becomes the first of FGCU’s three head coaches in the program’s Division-I era to be named ASUN Coach of the Year. The 4th-year leader of the Eagles has guided the Green and Blue to a 23-7 mark, setting a D-I program record for regular-season wins. FGCU finished 12-2 in the ASUN for a program-best .857 winning percentage, claiming its first outright regular-season title in program history.
“Obviously Brandon had a terrific year and the honors are very well deserved,” said Dooley. “He’s led us all year, and has especially stepped up in conference games by hitting some big shots and taking over late in contests. Meech’s award is a tribute to all his hard work and just continuing to get better every day. He’s really taken his game to the next level this year, and it’s been great to see.”
A 6-2 point guard, Goodwin paces the club in points (18 per game) and assists (3.8 per game) to rank 4th and 5th, respectively in the ASUN. In conference games, Goodwin was the only player who averaged at least 19 points (19.8), six rebounds (6.1) and three assists (3.6). Despite that, Goodwin was not a unanimous First Team selection as voted on by the league’s head coaches.
Goodwin was named ASUN Newcomer of the Week a record six times this year – two more than any other player in league history. On Monday, he became the first player in ASUN history to be named both the league’s Player of the Week and its Newcomer of the Week. Goodwin led FGCU in scoring 17 times throughout the year, reached double-figure points in every game except two and had two different season-best 29-point performances against league opponents.
Three times this year Goodwin hit game-winning shots, including two in conference action and had two more performances in the league which either iced a win or put the Eagles ahead for good late. Within the ASUN, Goodwin hit all three free throws with .6 of a second left to complete an eight-point comeback with just over a minute left at Stetson. He then hit a baseline 3-pointer with a little over 30 seconds remaining at North Florida to give the Eagles the win. At NJIT he hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with just a few minutes remaining and FGCU never trailed again, and at USC Upstate he went a perfect 6-6 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds of overtime to cement a victory which gave the Eagles – at the time – a share of the ASUN regular-season crown.
Goodwin is on pace to break the program’s single-season scoring record set last year by teammate Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) when he totaled 597. Goodwin already has 541 points this year – the 3rd-most in the program’s D-I era – and his 18 points per game average would be the best in FGCU’s D-I history.
North Florida’s Dallas Moore was named ASUN Player of the Year for the second-straight year – the first back-to-back winner in nearly 20 years and just the third all-time. Moore averaged a league-best 23.8 points per game for the year and upped that to 25.4 in ASUN action.
For Morant, the redshirt senior blocked 46 shots on the year – six more than anyone else in the league. He had at least one block in all but four games, and secured multiple rejections on 13 occasions.
His presence was felt in the paint as Morant was one of just three players in the league to average double-figure points (11.7) and at least nine rebounds (9) in ASUN games. For the year, Morant is averaging 8.2 rebounds per game to rank 4th in the league.
With 246 rebounds, Morant has already secured the 3rd-most rebounds in D-I single-season program history, and his per-game average would be the 2nd-best in the D-I era. Morant’s 46 blocks are just six shy of breaking the program’s all-time single-season record of 51 by Kyle Marks in 2008-09.
Twice this season Morant has grabbed 17 rebounds in a game – the most in a regulation D-I contest in program history. His first performance came against Georgia Southern on Dec. 13, and the second occurrence came on Jan. 28 versus Jacksonville.
Since taking over the Eagles in 2013-14 following a 10-year run as the top assistant at Kansas, Dooley has guided FGCU to 88 wins and postseason appearances in all four seasons. This year, FGCU is averaging 79.4 points per game, which would be a single-season D-I program record – more than two points better than last year’s then-record 77.2.
Dooley has the Eagles connecting at a 50.2-percent clip from the floor this year, which would be the best in the program’s history and is currently the 5th-highest in the nation. Additionally, FGCU possesses a +5.8 rebound margin – which would also be the best in a single season in the program’s D-I era.
Following timeouts this year, FGCU is statistically the 4th-best team in the country in scoring on possessions immediately after, averaging 1.059 points per possession (leader: UCLA: 1.083). FGCU is also getting the job done, again, on the defensive end as the Eagles are limiting opponents to just 69.7 points per game – more than five points better than any other ASUN team. The Eagles have led the ASUN in scoring defense in three of Dooley’s four years at the helm, and finished 2nd the other season.
Dooley guided FGCU to its first unblemished road conference mark in program history as the Eagles went 7-0 against ASUN foes away from Alico Arena – the first ASUN member to accomplish that since Samford went 8-0 in 1998-99. Overall, FGCU is a program-best 10-3 away from The Nest this year, with all three losses coming by single digits at former #1 Baylor (81-72), controversially at then-#13 Michigan State (78-77) and top-100 RPI La Salle (84-80). The Eagles – who hope they have played their final true road game of the year – are currently riding a nine-game road winning streak, which is tied for the 2nd-longest run in the nation behind only #1 Gonzaga (10).
Dooley, Goodwin and Morant have positioned the Eagles as the No. 1 seed in the ASUN Championship, which gets underway on Monday when FGCU hosts 8th-seeded Stetson (11-20, 3-11 ASUN).
FGCU has never lost in the quarterfinal round, and has advanced to the ASUN Championship Final in four of its five years of D-I postseason eligibility. The Eagles – who have won three NCAA Tournament games in five tries – will be looking to make their third appearance in the Big Dance in the last five years.
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