College Basketball
Broncs Honored by MET Writers
J. Thompson Player of Year, R. Thompson 2nd Team All-MET
Dempsey Coach of the Year
EAST RUTHERFORD?Three members of the Rider University basketball program were honored Thursday night at the 75th annual NIT/MBWA College Basketball Awards Dinner at the Giants Stadium Club.
Senior Jason Thompson was presented with the Haggerty Award as the MET Player of the Year, sophomore Ryan Thompson was named to the Second Team All-MET and Tommy Dempsey was presented with the Peter A. Carlesimo Award as the MET Coach of the Year.
A First Team All-MET selection for the second year in a row, J. Thompson is Rider's first ever Haggerty Award winner. “I am truly honored to receive this award,” J. Thompson said, “especially seeing all of the great players who have won this award in the past. I would like to thank the MET basketball writers for voting for me, and I would like to thank my coaches and teammates for helping me achieve this and all of the success we were able to achieve this year.”
The US Basketball Writers Association District II Player of the Year, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a First Team National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 3 selection, J. Thompson was a collegeinsider.com All-American and an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American.
A 6'11”, 245 pound forward, J. Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) finished second in the nation in rebounding (12.1), 18th in blocked shots (2.7), 29th in scoring (20.4) and 35th in field goal percentage (.560).
J. Thompson is expected to be a first-round NBA draft pick this summer, Rider's first. He graduated with 2,040 career points and a Rider-record 1,171 rebounds, one of just 96 Division I players to ever compile BOTH 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Three times this season J. Thompson compiled over 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game. According to ESPN.com, no player has done that three times in a season in at least a dozen years.
Dempsey is Rider's second MET Coach of the Year, the first being Kevin Bannon in 1994. The 2008 MAAC Coach of the Year, Dempsey guided Rider to first place in the MAAC this season with a best-ever 23 wins. Rider won just eight games in 2006 and under Dempsey won 16 in 2007. “I am so honored to be the Carlesimo Award winner,” Dempsey said. “To be here at Giants Stadium being recognized as the Metropolitan Coach of the Year is very humbling and I am grateful to the sports writers for selecting me. Five years ago I could not even imagine something like this could happen.”
Rider reached the MAAC Championship Game for the second time in four years and was selected to take part in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational. During the regular season Rider defeated teams from the Big Ten and the Big East, and won a best-ever 21 regular season games. Rider finished the season ranked 23rd among Mid-Majors by collegeinsider.com. The Broncs finished 13th in the nation in field goal percentage, 11th in 3-point field goal percentage and 37th in scoring.
Dempsey was the youngest active head coach (33) to reach 100 head coaching victories and is now 127-38 as a college head coach, including 39-26 in two years as the Rider head coach.
R. Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) was a Second Team All-MAAC selection this year and finished 55th in the nation in field goal percentage (.537). In the MAAC R. Thompson ranked eighth in scoring (15.0), 10th in rebounding (6.2), ninth in assists (3.44), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (.438) and fifth in steals (1.66).
