Men's Tewaaraton Stock Watch: The Early Favorites

Welcome to this season’s Tewaaraton Stock Watch, a weekly feature set to track the top players in Division I each week — while also keeping in mind the two-plus decades of the award’s history.

And that means things will skew largely, though not entirely, toward teams in national title contention.

Of the 22 winners since the Tewaaraton Award was established in 2001 (there was no honoree in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and two players shared the award in 2014), 11 played for the national champion and 16 of them played on Memorial Day Weekend.

The five who were not members of semifinalists: Hofstra’s Doug Shanahan (2001), Colgate’s Peter Baum (2012), Albany’s Lyle (2014-15) and Miles Thompson (2014) and Loyola’s Pat Spencer (2019).

Meanwhile, of the 105 Tewaaraton finalists, only eight played on teams that didn’t reach the NCAA tournament. Two of those instances (Army’s Brendan Nichtern and North Carolina’s Chris Gray) came last year, the first time more than one finalist wasn’t part of the postseason.

The other Tewaaraton finalists whose teams missed the tournament: Kevin Cassese (Duke 2003), Zack Greer (Bryant 2009, which was ineligible for the NCAA tournament as part of the school’s Division I transition), Jeremy Boltus (Army 2011), Tom Schreiber (Princeton 2013-14) and Michael Sowers (Princeton 2019).

Bottom line: Being on a national championship team is a real asset for this individual award since the final voting is done after Memorial Day, and it’s tough to make a serious dent without sniffing the postseason.

Unsurprisingly, all five players in the opening Tewaaraton Stock Watch play for teams ranked in the top 10 in the preseason.

1. Sam Handley, M, Penn

The senior had a stirring return after the Quakers were limited to one game in 2021, collecting 36 goals and 37 assists while helping Penn get to the NCAA quarterfinals. Few players demand attention quite like Handley, whose feeding ability makes him the center of an offense filled with capable options. His final year at Penn begins Saturday at Georgetown.

2. Connor Shellenberger, A, Virginia

A year after emerging as the star of the 2021 postseason, Shellenberger turned in a 32-goal, 44-assist campaign as the Cavaliers reached the NCAA quarterfinals. The redshirt junior is one of many known quantities on a Virginia offense that could again flirt with scoring 15 goals a game. He had three goals and three assists in an opening win over Michigan.

3. Brennan O’Neill, A, Duke

The one-time Next Big Thing has more than delivered, scoring 45 goals during the pandemic season in 2021 and then piling up 53 goals and 21 assists last spring with the benefit of any postseason games. He hit the 100-goal plateau for his career in the Blue Devils’ opener against Bellarmine and is on any short list for best player in the country heading into the spring. In Duke’s 2-1 start, he already has nine goals and seven assists.

4. CJ Kirst, A, Cornell

The junior was a popular choice as an eventual player of the year — perhaps even as early as this spring — in informal discussions with coaches this preseason. He turned in a magnificent debut with the Big Red, earning Ivy League rookie of the year honors while compiling 49 goals and 22 assists. He’ll open his second college season Saturday at Albany.

5. Pat Kavanagh, A, Notre Dame

Kavanagh had 25 goals and 39 assists last season, numbers that don’t look quite as gaudy as the rest of the guys on the list … at least until the Irish’s 12-game schedule is accounted for. He ranked sixth nationally in points per game (5.33) and second in assists per game (3.25). He was held without a goal on three shots against Marquette, but don’t fret — he dished out six assists.

Next five: Matt Brandau, A, Yale; Will Bowen, D, Georgetown; Brett Makar, D, Maryland; Jack Myers, A, Ohio State; Ross Scott, A, Rutgers