This weekend, I asked you all to vote on a slate of 11 Player of the Year/superlative awards; over 150 responses later, we have our winners. Before portal season begins in earnest, let’s take a look back at the season and dole out some hardware.
Frontcourt Player of the Year
Also Receiving Votes: F Christian Coleman
Bet you didn’t see this one coming!
The “race” for this award was about as competitive as you’d imagine. Christian Coleman, Javian Davis, and Will Shaver all made significant contributions and shined in the season’s biggest moments, but Lendeborg alone recorded 28% of the team’s rebounds and 45% of the team’s blocks. There’s no argument to be had here.
Backcourt Player of the Year
Also Receiving Votes: G Butta Johnson, G/F Alejandro Vasquez
A slightly closer race, but one never in doubt. Gaines took the lead in the second hour of voting and never looked back.
Alejandro Vasquez and Butta Johnson are both extremely qualified for this award. AJ’s displays of microwave scoring saved the Blazers multiple times, including the home win over Tulane and, notably, the AAC championship win over Temple. It felt as though Butta, the most consistent shooter on the team, hit a game-winner every week. Both guards were revelations down the stretch.
But neither approached Gaines, the heart and soul of this year’s Blazers, in terms of raw impact.
Gaines’ box score numbers are impressive, but not as dominant as Lendeborg’s — he averaged 12.3 points and 5.5 assists per game while turning it over 2.4 times a night. However, EG was by far the Blazers’ best ball-handler, the initiator of almost all of UAB’s offensive sets, and a weapon in both pick-and-roll and transition. Gaines had the ball in his hands on nearly every single possession, led the American in assists and steals, and captained the UAB offense to a top-60 KenPom national rating. One of the most unique players to ever don a Blazer uniform, EG’s departure leaves a gaping hole in the backcourt.
Most Valuable Player
Also Receiving Votes: G Eric Gaines, G/F Alejandro Vasquez
26 points and 8 rebounds against North Texas. 26 points and 12 rebounds against Tulane. 23 points and 16 rebounds against Memphis. 17 points and 21 rebounds against FAU. Need I go on?
Lendeborg was a force of nature this season, turning in a campaign statistically unrivaled by any UAB player in history. The AAC’s Defensive Player of the Year averaged 13.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks a night; he yanked down 370 total boards, demolishing Trey Jemison’s school record of 329 (while playing four fewer games). Lendeborg was also an 87th percentile scorer in the half-court, per Synergy, and was named to KenPom’s all-AAC team.
Also, “stats” and “numbers” are for dweebs. Check out these cool dunks and tell me Yax isn’t the MVP.
In all sincerity, I think this race could’ve stood to be much closer. For the reasons I outlined above, Eric Gaines is clearly in the same tier of impact as Lendeborg; in fact, EG substantially outpaced Yax in Evan Miya’s BPM metric. But it’s impossible to argue with Lendeborg’s long list of accolades, jaw-dropping highlight reel, and versatile set of skills.
Bench Player of the Year
Also Receiving Votes: G Tony Toney, G Daniel Ortiz
The candidates for this superlative were Coleman, Toney, Ortiz, and Will Shaver. Somehow, Coleman didn’t receive a single vote in the first hour the poll was open (?) but quickly took his rightful place.
This award is in the same vein as the frontcourt POTY — there’s just no discussion to be had. Ortiz and Toney both provided valuable minutes and had their respective moments (usually coming in the form of clutch threes), but Coleman was the team’s unquestioned sixth man throughout conference play. He even transcended benchdom by the year’s end, starting multiple postseason games over Javian Davis and providing a rocket boost to the Blazer offense down the stretch.
Most Improved from Last Season
Also Receiving Votes: G Butta Johnson, C Javian Davis
By far our most tightly-contested and controversial result yet! The only players eligible for this award were the four returners from 2022-2023: Eric Gaines, Butta Johnson, Javian Davis, and Tony Toney. Johnson shot out to a massive early lead, but EG slowly made up the gap and squeaked ahead just an hour before the poll closed.
This poses a tough pill to swallow for those who primarily value box scores. From that perspective, this shouldn't even be a debate. Gaines was the Blazers' second-leading scorer, just like he was in 2022-2023. Butta Johnson, on the other hand, absolutely skyrocketed this season; he went from a situational freshman guard to a consistent starter who averaged 31 minutes a night. EG's box scores marginally improved. Butta's were unrecognizable.
However, I find simplifying the argument to per-game stats to be reductive. It ignores the context Eric Gaines existed in.
Tasked with the titanic burden of replacing Jelly Walker, EG saw more possessions than any AAC players but three, per Evan Miya. He met the challenge with aplomb, making remarkable strides as a decision-maker, a pick-and-roll ballhandler, and a transition threat. By the end of the season, UAB's offensive KenPom rating was nearly identical to its rating in Jelly's final year. At just 6'2" and 165 pounds, EG also became one of the conference's premier defensive disruptors, leading the AAC in steals.
Johnson has improved massively since he arrived on campus, but I think the voters made the right call.
Most Improved Within This Season
Also Receiving Votes: F Christian Coleman, G Eric Gaines, G Alejandro Vasquez
I won’t wax poetic about this one. You all saw what happened out there.
Yaxel Lendeborg’s first game of the season: 3 points, 0/6 from the floor, 3/8 from the free throw line.
Yaxel Lendeborg’s 23rd game of the season: 17 points, 21 rebounds, 7/11 from the floor.
Fan Favorite
Also Receiving Votes: The little kid dunk challenge, F Yaxel Lendeborg, Steve Irvine, G Eric Gaines, Vlad Goldin, F Christian Coleman, Scott Pera, G Alejandro Vasquez, “the sport of basketball”, C Javian Davis, Ransom Ministries, G Daniel Ortiz, Andy Kennedy, F Will Shaver, “RYAN DONOHOO!!!!!!”, G Butta Johnson, “the Philadelphia gambling mob”, G Ryan Donohoo, “the scary looking USF guy”, G Jon Coleman, Penny Hardaway, F Seth Sigmon, “Yax’s cowboy hat from the AAC tournament,” “the whole UAB team,” Ryan Cross, G “Ryan motherfu**ing Donohoo,” “I love UAB basketball,” “Ryan ‘The Goat’ Donohoo”
I love Tony Toney, and you do too.
Best Single-Game Performance
Also Receiving Votes: Lendeborg win over FAU (17 points, 21 TRB), Lendeborg win over Memphis (23 points, 16 TRB), Gaines AAC semi (20 points, 5 assists), Gaines win over SMU (22 points, 6 steals, 3 assists)
I truly had no idea where this was going to go. Lendeborg and Gaines each boasted multiple monstrous performances against the AAC’s elite, but Alejandro Vasquez’s domination of Temple, while slightly less well-rounded, came with impeccable timing.
Turns out, the vote wasn’t very close. Respondents were swayed by AJ’s record-shattering 29 points, the best-ever performance by a UAB player in a conference championship game.
Moment of the Year
Also Receiving Votes: Vasquez/Coleman Globetrotter dunk in AAC title, Yax’s dunk over Quincy Ballard, Eric Gaines’ early-game dunk vs. Memphis, Yax’s buzzer-beater against North Texas, Daniel Ortiz’s clutch three against Drake
“BUTTAAAAAA!!!!!!”
Butta Johnson’s game-clinching three against #20 FAU, the climax of a heart-stopping series of events, is the only correct choice here.
With the Blazers up three and 90 seconds on the game clock, Eric Gaines fired a dart to a cutting Lendeborg, who couldn’t corral the ball. Yax was forced to throw a wobbly pass to Christian Coleman, who wormed his way inside and attempted a wild layup. No good…
… but Lendeborg got the rebound. UAB reset the play, wasting 20 more seconds before making a move. Gaines took a (perhaps ill-advised) one-footed jumper that clanked off the rim…
… but Lendeborg got the rebound.
50 seconds had run off the clock, the Blazers still clinging to their three-point advantage. Despite Yax’s Herculean performance on the block, UAB still needed to score, and it didn’t look like they were going to do so. With the ball in Butta Johnson’s hands, the Blazers didn’t initiate another set until five seconds remained on the shot clock.
Comeback of the Year
Also Receiving Votes: at UNT (17 points), vs. FAU (9 points), vs. Wichita State (failed)
The top candidates in this category were glaringly obvious: the thrilling overtime victory in Denton on January 31st and the gritty home win over SMU.
Each has its own merits. The UNT comeback was spectacular, both in terms of the deficit erased and the memories produced. Yaxel Lendeborg’s buzzer-beating dunk to send the game to overtime was one of the best moments of the season.
The comeback against SMU produced fewer highlights, but took place in the friendly confines of Bartow and gave the Blazers a tangible benefit outside of a simple conference win: a double-bye. How big did that turn out to be? UAB’s Gaines-led renaissance set the tone for the month of March and provided a springboard from which the Blazers would roll through the AAC tournament.
UAB’s victory over SMU also played a role in the Mustangs’ decision to fire former coach Rob Lanier, which set off a chain reaction that has reshaped the college basketball world. SMU hired Andy Enfield from USC, causing a series of coaching moves ultimately culminating in John Calipari’s departure from Kentucky. Whoops!
Game of the Year
Also Receiving Votes: Win vs. FAU, title win vs. Temple, semi win vs. USF
A thrashing of a hated rival. The largest home crowd since 2016. An assertive conference ranked win. An iconic image. What’s not to love?
A high-scoring thriller that never felt truly over. The nation’s introduction to Yaxel Lendeborg, who recorded 23 points and 16 rebounds. UAB’s first marquee AAC win on the long road to a conference championship. Proof that the Blazers could compete with any roster, no matter how expensive. The Bartow Standard felt palpable.