Crandall is Player of the Year
RIDERS US POINT GUARD WINS TOP ACCOLADE IN HIS DEBUT SEASON
LEICESTER Riders’ Geno Crandall has been selected as the Molten BBL Player of the Year for 2020-21 after leading Riders to a fifth BBL Championship title.
The award was decided by the votes of BBL head coaches.
It is the first time in seven seasons that a Leicester player has received the award, following Drew Sullivan in 2012-13, and they are the only two Riders to have ever won it in 33 BBL seasons.
With coaches nominating their top three players, and points awarded for each position, Crandall won the vote by a 10 clear points from DeAndre Liggins of London Lions.
Crandall, known as The General, was voted in first by seven of the ten BBL head coaches, and in one of the top three spots by all of them.
It continues an amazing run for point guards who have won for five seasons in a row, with Justin Robinson of London and Rahmon Fletcher of Newcastle doing so twice each.
The 6ft 4in Crandall, a 24-year-old Minneapolis native, joined Leicester in the summer after a season in the Czech Republic.
He was previously a two-time AllBig Sky second team selection at the University of North Dakota before graduating from the powerhouse Gonzaga University.
Crandall made an instant impact with Riders, scoring 20 points in an early BBL Cup win over Newcastle Eagles, including nine in six fourth quarter minutes as Riders came from behind.
He finished the season ninth in the BBL in scoring with 15.9 points per game, second in the league in assists (7.8), and fourth in steals (1.9), leading the league champions in all three categories.
The crafty guard also drew the second most fouls of any player in the BBL as he proved difficult to contain going to the rim - including numerous highlight dunks over the course of the campaign.
He also shot 80 per cent from the free throw line on more than five attempts per game, finishing second overall as one of only two players with more than 100 free throw makes in the season.
Crandall had nine double-doubles in BBL Championship play, which was third among all players, and was close to a triple-double on numerous occasions.
He saved some of his best allround performances for the biggest games, including a massive 18 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists in a victory at third-placed Plymouth Raiders and 12 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds in a crucial March win over title rivals London Lions.
Crandall’s season high for both points (29) and assists (15) came in a decisive contribution in a 116-109 overtime victory over Manchester Giants at the Morningside Arena, when he scored seven points in the extra five minutes.
Another home highlight just prior to that saw Crandall hit a buzzerbeater to see off Sheffield Sharks by 75-73.
The final week of the season saw Crandall selected in the Molten BBL Team of the Year, and he just missed out on a place in the Molten BBL Defensive Team of the Year by one vote.
He also picked up a Molten BBL Player of the Month award in January and made the weekly All-Star Five six times.
Riders’ fans can meet Crandall, BBL Coach of the Year Rob Paternostro and the rest of the Riders team, along with their trophies, on Wednesday at the Morningside Arena, between 6pm and 9pm. Bookings must be made in advance on the Morningside Arena website, or via Riders social media.