ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR - ERICK GREEN - ALL-MET ELITE

2012/2013

ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

 ERICK GREEN

ALL-MET ELITE

PAUL VI HS.

FAIRFAX VA.

 

The  transfer to Paul VI was as much about academics and social adjustment as it was about basketball, but there was no denying the jump in the level of basketball, going from a Group AA VHSL school to a program where Green competed against the likes of Victor Oladipo, Kendall Marshall, Quinn Cook and Tyler Thornton.

 

“Everybody was telling me I couldn’t hang with the DC and Maryland kids, those inner city kids, because they were so much better,” Green said. “But I just hung in there with them, and I proved everybody wrong.”

 

Green averaged 16.8 points per game as a senior, and earned all-WCAC honors and All-Met honors from the Washington Post. But that confidence was quickly crushed by his difficult freshman season. Erick Sr. said one of his son’s biggest problems was that he tried to change his shot.

 

“He was listening to other people tell him how to shoot the basketball, and I told Erick, look man, I taught you how to shoot the basketball. And all through high school ... he shot 57 percent from the floor,” Erick Sr. said. “So why are you going to change your shot now that you’re in college? He was trying to please too many people. We had a long talk. Do what you’ve been taught. There’s nothing wrong. You’ve been successful. Believe in yourself.”

 

Most NBA mock drafts predict Green to go into the middle of the second round in June. He’s already received an invite from the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament and he’s hoping for an invitation to the NBA predraft camp in Chicago.

Green said he’s confident he’s improved his ball-handling enough to make an impression at point guard, where he’ll likely play as a professional. Johnson has lauded his decision-making throughout the season. Green has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to be known as a ball hog, and the numbers back that up. He’s only attempted more than 20 shots seven times in 31 games, and in three of those games, he’s shot better than 50 percent.

 

High School: Played as a senior at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, after lettering three years at Millbrook High School in his hometown of Winchester … At Paul VI, was the 2009 Division I Independent League Player of the Year and led his team to the state championship … Averaged 16.8 points per game as a senior … Named Washington Post All-Metro and was named first team All-WCAC … At Millbrook, led his team to the 2008 VHSL AA State Championship as a junior … Was an EA Sports All-American as a senior, when he also earned Group AA Player of the Year, as well as being named the district and region Player of the Year … As a senior was named Washington Post All-Metro and was the AP Player of the Year in Group AA.