ACC Media: Erick Green ACC's Player of the Year

Members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association voted Erick Green as the conference's player of the year. 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. Green is truly the best player on the league's worst team. Here are some of his accomplishments this season:

• Nation's leading scorer (25.4 ppg, 48.2 fg%)
• First ACC player to lead the nation in scoring since USC's Grady Wallace (1956-57)
• ACC's leader in minutes played (36.4 mpg)
• Virginia Tech's single-season scoring leader (786 points)
• Fifth most efficient player nationally according to Hollinger (32.51 per)

Green never let up, consistently played hard to the point of exhaustion, and manufactured points. He never seemed to stray from James Johnson's system, and made it a point to include his teammates in the game with smart and timely passes. That's my only knock on Green, I would have be fine with him putting the ball up every time he had it regardless of the shot quality.

From the official HokieSports.com release.

"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."

Here are what some of the media members who voted for Green wrote:

The hardest call was Green over Larkin for player of the year. Had the Hokies won a few more games or and escaped last place, not so much. — David Teel, DailyPress

He's not a Costanza-like chucker. Rather, Green is remarkably efficient. ... That would be Green, whose ORtg isn't just "over 100," it’s 121.7!!!! By comparison, the only other ACC player who ends at least 28% of his team's possessions - BC's Ryan Anderson - had an ORtg of 103.0. — Jim Young, ACCSports.com

In the end, I couldn’t ignore the fact that Green is leading the entire country in scoring, not just the conference. ... The Hokies' lack of overall talent only makes what Green has accomplished all the more impressive, playing against double - and triple-teams and not only scoring at will but finding his teammates as well -- he's sixth in the ACC in assists -- and his teammates aren't exactly Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly and Rasheed Sulaimon and Quinn Cook. — Luke DeCock, ACC Now/newsobserver.com

Green not only led the nation in scoring, but Tech coach James Johnson said if the rest of the Hokies shot around 42 percent instead of 37 percent, Green might average seven assists a game. Imagine the nation's leading scorer also leading the ACC in assists. That’s how good and unselfish he was this season. — Andrew Jones, FS Carolinas

Image via HokieSports.com

Now, hang his jersey up in Cassell.