England Basketball Announce Players & Coaches Of the Year

Chris Mellor was selected as Coach of the Year in Division 1 Men for his work with Bradford Dragons. Coach Mellor led his Dragons team through a strong season where they finished with a 17-9 record and will appear in their first Final Four tournament in Manchester.

Leading the way on the player front in Division 1 Men is Joshua Wilcher, the second straight season a Reading Rockets point guard takes the honour. The Australian led Reading to National Cup and Division 1 league titles and has helped see them through to the Final Fours in Manchester. Wilcher is amongst the league leaders in points and assists and takes the award a season after former Reading guard Luke Nelson was the winner.

Adrian Ritchie is the Division 1 Women Player of the Year as voted by her peers. The Nottingham Wildcats player has filled the scoring column up for a Wildcats side who finished runners up in Division 1, earning a place in the Final Fours at the end of April.

Two Nottingham Wildcats club members take honours home in Division 1 Women as Dave Greenaway (pictured above, left) is the recipient of the 2013/14 Coach of the Year. Greenaway led Nottingham to their second straight league runner-up position in Division 1 and they are again heading to the Final Fours.

In the Men’s second division, Darren Best from Killamarsh Derbyshire Arrows was selected as the Player of the Year. Best averaged well into double figure scoring, hitting at least 30 points in eleven Arrows’ league games with a season high of 45.

James Maudsley from Derby Trailblazers is the Division 2 Men’s Coach of the Year. Coach Maudsley rebounded from relegation to lead Blazers to the Division 2 title and will make an appearance in the 2014 Playoff Final in Manchester.

The full list of Players and Coaches of the Year for the senior England Basketball Leagues is outlined below. These selections were made based on votes cast by teams in the senior national leagues.

In leagues where an insufficient amount of votes were tallied by teams, selections were made by England Basketball.

Senior EBL Players of the Year

Division 1 Men
Joshua Wilcher, Reading Rockets

Division 1 Women
Adrian Ritchie, Nottingham Wildcats

Division 2 Men Darren Best, Killamarsh Derbyshire Arrows

Division 2 Women (North) Katie Bergeron, Leeds Carnegie

Division 2 Women (Midlands – South West) Catherine Lutz, Reading Rockets

Division 2 Women (Midlands – South East) Ashley Trebilcock, Team Solent Suns

Division 3 Men (North) Jason Tucker, Northants Thunder

Division 3 Men (South) Karolis Stepanavicius, London Lituanica

Division 4 Men (North) Tomas Grigaliunas, Kingston Panthers

Division 4 Men (Midlands) Kieran Jones, Newcastle Under Lyme Knights

Division 4 Men (Midlands – South West) Chris Petzy, Oxford Brookes University

Division 4 Men (South East) Tadas Bagdonas, BC Medelynas

Senior EBL Coaches of the Year

Division 1 Men
Chris Mellor, Bradford Dragons

Division 1 Women
Dave Greenaway, Nottingham Wildcats

Division 2 Men James Maudsley, Derby Trailblazers

Division 2 Women (North) Mark Gunn, Leeds Carnegie

Division 2 Women (Midlands – South West) Clarence Hicks, Oxford Women

Division 2 Women (Midlands – South East) Steve Vear, LSBU Brixton Topcats

Division 3 Men (North) Ken Masser, Rossendale Raptors

Division 3 Men (South) Domas Solo, London Lituanica

Division 4 Men (North) Tony Walsh, Liverpool

Division 4 Men (Midlands) Shawn Jamison, Newcastle Under Lyme Knights

Division 4 Men (Midlands – South West) Ken Walton, Oxford Brookes University

Division 4 Men (South East) Pete Charlwood, Cambridge Cats