Travis Peterson - MVP of the Regular Season

Bulgarian team Rilski Sportist topped Group B of the Eurohold Balkan League not only thanks to their team spirit and overal great performance of their squad. There was also an outstanding individual performer for them throughout the 1st phase of the inaugural season of the competition - a young man named Travis Peterson.
 
The 23-year old American is deservedly the MVP of the Regular Season of the BIBL 2008/09, based on his average Efficiency rating of 28.1 - almost 5 points more than the second place! Peterson is an exciting prospect, who in his rookie year in Europe after graduating from Samford University is already playing like a seasoned professional. A priority for every opposition team`s tactical plan in both the BIBL and the Bulgarian league has been "How to stop Travis Peterson". And almost no one has succeeded.
 
The 208-cm tall center, native of Glendale, AZ, has notched up at least 16 points (an average of 21.4 ppg) in each of his 8 Balkan League Regular Season games, peaking at 31 in the home victory over Dinamo in January. He also grabbed between 8 and 12 rebounds in 7 of his 8 starts - an average of 9.7 rpg over those 7. He only got 2 boards in a game versus the same opponent in Bucharest in mid-october, which was Rilski Sportist`s only poor performace in the BIBL so far and one of their only two defeats. That just goes to show how much of a barometer Travis Peterson has been for his team`s level of play.
 
The young American big man has also shown great range and verstility. He is a regular threat from three-point land, whenever he pops up outside - has an average of 1 triple out of 2.9 attemts per game, impressive stats for a center. He hit an amazing 4/4 from behind the arc in his aforementioned top performance on the 20th of January. Peterson also averages 2.2 assists per game and had 7 in another great individual performance of his - a win over the other Bulgarian team Levski in November. On that night, besides going just 3 assists short of a unique triple-double, he also had 3 steals and 4 blocked shots...
 
The MVP of the Regular Season runner up, with an average Efficiency rating of 23.4, is another 23-year old center - Romanian giant Ionut Dragusin of CSU Cuadripol Brasov. Although the team eventually didn`t qualify for the Quarterfinals, Dragusin (220 cm) has been a dominant force in the paint throughout the Regular Season with a competition-leading 12.0 rebounds per game, adding also 18.2 points per game and 1.1 blocks per game.
 
Euroins Cherno More guard Corey McIntosh is third in the MVP standings with an average Efficiency rating of 21.2. He has posted averages of 25.6 points per game (competition top scorer), 4.6 assists per game and 2.2 steals per game.
 
Here are all the top performers in each of the 6 individual categories in the BIBL Regular Season:
- Efficiency: Travis Peterson (Rilski Sportist) - 28.1
- Points: Corey McIntosh (Euroins Cherno More) - 25.6
- Assists: Branko Mirkovic (Rilski Sportist) - 5.2
- Rebounds: Ionut Dragusin (CSU Cuadripol) - 12.0
- Steals: Branko Mirkovic (Rilski Sportist) - 3.0
- Blocks: Toni Simic (Fersped Rabotnicki) - 1.6