Atlantic 10 Basketball: List of “All-Glue Guy” Team for 2022-23 season

College basketball’s award season is nearly upon us and the sport’s top scorers, ace defenders and most productive rookies will all earn their rightful honors.  But every year, a group of critical contributors is left off and until every conference properly adopts a Glue Guy of the Year award, then the sport’s most impactful role players won’t get their due.  So this season, I’d like to give a shout-out to the unheralded players in Atlantic 10 Basketball who may not be one of their team’s higher usage players but nonetheless were crucial to winning.

Multiple great candidates for this list were not considered because they should be in the discussion for real awards, including the A-10 All-Rookie team (St. Bonaventure’s Yann Farrell and Fordham’s Will Richardson), All-Defense team (Duquesne’s Tre Williams, Fordham’s Kyle Rose and Antrell Charlton) and Sixth Man of the Year (Rose and Saint Louis’ Javon Pickett).

Honorable Mention: David Shriver, VCU – 6.2 ppg, 38.4% 3 pt%

Shriver doesn’t bring the all-around skillset typical of a great glue guy but his three-point shooting is so essential to a pretty flat VCU offense.  After his outside game got icy in conjunction with the December weather, the Hartford transfer has shot 47% from deep in conference play and outside of him and Jayden Nunn, the Rams are under 30% as a team.  Unlike many of the players below, his importance can be shown in a stat, VCU is 14-1 when Shriver makes at least two three-pointers in a game.

HM: Hunter Dean, George Washington – 8.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg

Dean and Ricky Lindo Jr are the lone physical presences on a GW team centered around a backcourt that succeeds with finesse and intelligence, and the Colonials’ rebounding often craters without their starting center on the floor.  There is absolutely nothing flashy about Dean’s game but he is the team’s one true rim protector, a great box out space clearer and he even kicks into GW’s biggest strength (two-point shooting) at 66.2%.

HM: Jhamir Brickus, La Salle – 8.7 ppg, 2.7 apg

La Salle’s entire roster is basically all quality, hard-working role players operating around a pair of fearless shooters in Khalil Brantley and Josh Nickelberry but Brickus’ contributions really stand out. He’s the Explorers’ best perimeter defender, leads the team in three-point shooting and his pass and kick ability allows Fran Dunphy to play his preferred, bigger starting lineup without letting the offense get too clunky.

HM: Joe Reece, Duquesne – 9.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg

Sure, Reece is the Dukes’ top-scoring big man and almost their top rebounder (that honor goes to Austin Rotoroff, who would absolutely be on this list if I didn’t give him his flowers last week’s article), but his greatest contribution is his versatility.  Duquesne has five quality big men deserving of rotation minutes and each of the other four fit nicely next to Reece. He thrives as an offensive center, attacking the rim from the midrange, but is best defensively chasing around opposing forwards and sticking his long arms into passing lanes, but even in flipped roles, he always finds a way to contribute.

HM: Des Watson, Davidson – 9.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg

Watson’s inclusion on the final list likely would have been cheating (he’s clearly been Davidson’s third-best player all season and his role has finally started to reflect that) but he deserves a ton of credit for transforming himself from simply a great athlete with some defensive skills to a true two-way threat. Watson’s had 15 double-digit scoring games since Thanksgiving and he provides something that the Wildcats (having their worst three-point shooting season in over 25 years), desperately need fantastic off-ball cutting.