Blogger's Picks for MAAC's All-Time Shooting Guards

Next on this blogger's personal choices for the MAAC's all-time top men's players, by position (alphabetical order) ...

SHOOTING GUARDS


- STEVE BURTT SR., 6-2, Iona (1980-81 through 1983-84): He was the prototypical scoring guard, the first great one in the MAAC. His first college season was before the MAAC was formed, and the next three were in the conference. His 2,534 career points would be third all time if they were all in the MAAC. Still, his 2,153 points scored in his last three seasons is good enough for fifth all time. His 52.9 shooting percentage in his MAAC years is 8th all time (and, best among any player under 6-5 in the top 20), and his 23.2 ppg. average in three MAAC seasons is third-best. He was the conference's Player of the Year twice, one of just three players to win the award more than once. He was good enough to be a second-round NBA draft pick in 1984 and played parts of four seasons in the NBA.


- LUIS FLORES, 6-foot-2, Manhattan (2001-02 through 2003-04): After starting his college career at Rutgers, he transfered to Manhattan's program as a sophomore and had three of the best seasons ever by a MAAC player. Another two-time Player of the Year winner. His three-year scoring total of 2,046 is eighth-best in conference history, while his 22.7 ppg. average is fourth-best. Rival coaches raved about his "efficiency" of play in that there was rarely a wasted motion, or rarely a mistake in what he did on the court. After his MAAC career he was a second-round draft pick of the Houston Rockets in the 2004 draft and played 16 NBA games over two seasons as the only Manhattan player in the past 35 years to play at that level.


- TONY GEORGE, 6-foot-3, Fairfield (1982-83 through 1985-86): A do-everything, silky smooth guard who was the best player on one of just two teams in conference history to win the regular-season championship by a four-game margin (the 2009-10 Siena team is the other). He scored 630 points in that season (1985-86), still the top all-time one-year total at Fairfield. His 2,006 career points is 11th all-time in MAAC history. And, he was as unselfish as he was productive, almost like having a second point guard on the court. His 3.96 assists-per-game average ranks 43rd in MAAC history. He was also one of the league's better free-throw shooters, ranking 47th all-time (77.3 percent).


- KENNY HASBROUCK, 6-foot-3, Siena (2005-06 through 2008-09): He was the first recruit of former Siena coach Fran McCaffery, and was the key figure in turning around a Siena program that had struggled for several years prior to his arrival. Not spectacularly gifted athletically, but just an efficient player who contributed in a variety of ways at both ends of the court. Statistically his 1,917 points is 14th on the MAAC's all-time list, his 37.3 percent accuracy from three-point range is 16th all time and his 248 career steals is the league's sixth-best career total. Hasbrouck eventually became the first Siena player to be on an NBA active roster, twice getting 10-day contracts with the Miami Heat, but never appeared in a game.


- KEVIN HOUSTON, 5-foot-11, Army (1982-84 through 1986-87): Completely overlooked at the Division I level out of high school but he made his mark at the college level with an unerring jumper and a quick release. His senior year scoring average of 32.9 ppg. led the country (coincidentally, the Naval Academy's David Robinson led the nation in rebounding the same season), and his 923 points that year still remains the MAAC's one-season standard by far. His 2,325 career points is third all time in the conference, and his 86.9 percent free-throw accuracy is No. 2. He had a 53-point effort in a MAAC tournament game, also the highest one-game total in any setting by a conference player.


- RANDY WOODS, 5-foot-10, La Salle (1989-90 through 1991-92): After being ineligible as a freshman he played three seasons and his 1,811 career points over that time still ranks 22nd all time in the MAAC. He had a spectacular senior season in which he scored 847 points for a 27.3 ppg. average, the second-highest totals in those categories (to Kevin Houston) in MAAC history. His career average of 2.5 steals per game ranks third in MAAC history and his 3.86 assists per game is 46th all time. He was an outstanding long-range shooter, but also strong enough to consistently drive to the basket. He parlayed that senior year into being a first-round draft pick in the 1992 NBA, the No. 16 pick overall. Only Lionel Simmons and Jason Thompson, among conference players, have been picked higher.