During his freshman season, plenty of folks around the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference learned what Parrotta saw. MAAC coaches picked Turner and Siena forward Edwin Ubiles as co-recipients of the conference's Rookie of the Year award as the league's honors were handed out Thursday in the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Turner is just the third Golden Griffin to win the MAAC's top rookie honors and the other two - Craig Wise (1992) and Micheal Meeks (1993) - both went on to become Canisius hall of famers. Turner made 23 starts and averaged a team-high 35.9 minutes per game. He was third on the club in scoring (11.9 points) and rebounding (4.5), and the leader in assists (5.6).

"I said that we need one guy and that we'll get one who will be a major, major contributor and that turned out to be Frank," Parrotta said. "We've got six more guys coming in next year and I've told our people that two of them have to be as good as Frank and then you've really got something.

"But getting that first one is the toughest one. That's like getting [Turner-Carroll grad] Loren Stokes when I was at Hofstra. Now it's getting Frank Turner here for Canisius."

Turner opened the year as a backup to Bret Wackerly but quickly began to play more minutes than the returning sophomore. By early December, Wackerly had left the program and Turner had the job all to himself.

"It went pretty well for me this year," Turner said. "I didn't expect to be playing as many minutes and play as well as I did. But we fell short in the conference [finishing 6-12, in eighth place] and I really felt I could have played even better."

Parrotta said he had no problem turning over his first team as a Division I head coach to a freshman, something many coaches loathe doing.

"It wasn't nerve-wracking at all," he said. "I knew the cream would eventually rise to the top because I knew how talented the kid was. The kid really put up a lot of points in high school. He's a consummate point guard. He can score . . . he can really dish the ball."

While happy with the individual honor, Turner continues to fret over the Golden Griffins' eight-game losing streak that ended the regular season. Canisius (11-18) is the No. 8 seed in the MAAC Tournament and will meet No. 9 Saint Peter's (5-24) here tonight at 7:30 (Time Warner 72, Radio 710 AM).

"Every day [Parrotta] tells us we have to have a nine or 10 effort," Turner said. "If we come out sluggish and not hyped up, we're not a good team."

"I'm happy for him because he really deserves it," Parrotta said. ". . . If you take him off our team, we're in real dire straits."

In other awards, Marist's Matt Brady and senior guard Jared Jordan were named men's coach and player of the year, respectively, with Jordan besting players such as Niagara's Charron Fisher.

The No. 2 Niagara men have their first game here Saturday night at 7:30 against either Rider or Iona. The sixth-seeded Canisius women open play today at 11:30 a.m. against No. 3 Loyola (MSG, Radio 710 AM).

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