What everyone expected to happen happened with regards to the men's player of the year, defensive player of the year, and coach of the year awards: they all went to Rider. 

Jason Thompson was named player of the year and defensive player of the year (for the second time) and Tommy Dempsey was named coach of the year. 

I couldn't agree more with both decisions. 

Thompson, who led the league in rebounding and blocks and was second in scoring, is arguably (probably?) the best mid-major player in the country. In my mind, that makes him a shoo-in for player of the year even though he plays in the same conference as the leading scorer in the country, Niagara's Charron Fisher. 

To the surprise of no one, Marist cleaned up the women's awards, with Brian Giorgis winning coach of the year honors for the fourth time in six years (seriously: when is this guy going to bolt for the Big East or ACC?) and Rachele Fitz being named player of the year. 

The other men's and women's awards: 

Men: 

Co-Rookies of the Year: Loyola G Brian Rudolph and Marist G Jay Gavin

Sixth Man of the Year: Loyola G Marquis Sullivan 

Women: 

Rookie of the Year: Marist G Erica Allenspach

Defensive Player of the Year: Saint Peter's G Tania Kennedy 

Sixth Player of the Year: Marist F Lynzee Kennedy 

Also, didn't have time to post on it earlier, but Canisius clobbered Niagara in the other women's play-in game, so the Golden Griffins get the pleasure of an all-but-certain drubbing at the hands of top-seeded and 24th-ranked Marist tomorrow. 

The schedule for tomorrow is as follows: 

Women: 

No. 2 Iona vs. No. 7 Loyola, 9:30 a.m. 

No. 3 Fairfield vs. No. 6 Siena, 11:30 a.m. 

No. 1 Marist vs. No. 8 Canisius, 1:30 p.m. 

No. 4 Manhattan vs. No. 5 Saint Peter's, 3:30 p.m. 

Men: 

No. 8 Manhattan vs. No. 9 Saint Peter's, 7:30 p.m. 

No. 7 Iona vs. No. 10 Canisius, 10 p.m. 

The Rider men get the winner of the Iona-Canisius game on Saturday at 7:30. 

I can't guarantee I'll be up on time for the 9:30 women's game, but I will definitely be at the Fairfield-Siena game at 11:30 and I'll be in the building blogging for most of the day after that. 

Tomorrow's Trentonian will have a Rider women's game story and a story on the awards ceremony. And remember: send your men's tournament picks to rutgersfootballblog@gmail.com before 7:30 tomorrow to enter the first ever TCHB MAAC tournament pool and the chance to win a free t-shirt and TCHB bragging rights for the year. It's simple: fill out your bracket with your picks from tomorrow's opening round through Monday's final, and e-mail me your picks. The more, the merrier. 

With that, I'm calling it a night and turning my attention to the end of the UConn-Providence game on ESPN, followed by St. Joe's and Xavier when it's over.