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MID-MAJOR MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
 
Craig Bradshaw, Michael Jenkins and Torrell Martin received most of the attention and the accolades for Winthrop, but the Eagles would not have had the phenomenal season they had without Chris Gaynor.

The 5-foot-10 point guard came into his own in his junior season, helping the program soar to new heights in 2006-07.

“Chris Gaynor was the difference-maker for Winthrop,” says collegeinsider.com editor-in-chief Joe Dwyer. “He was the difference between a good team and the best team in school history.”

For the second straight season Gaynor had better then a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio, but his overall statistics weren’t exactly jaw dropping. It was his presence on the floor and his ability to orchestrate the offense helped the Eagles win a school-record 29 games, which included the first team in Big South Conference history to post a perfect 17-0 record (14-0 regular season, 3-0 in conference tournament).

His presence was felt most during a seven-game stretch in January when Martin was sidelined with an injury. That’s when Gaynor took his game to another level. Again his numbers weren’t eye-popping in January, but he was the single biggest reason that Winthrop not only survived that stretch, but they emerged as one of the most dominating teams outside the power conferences.

With the help of Gaynor Winthrop also won its first-ever appearance NCAA tournament game this season (beating Notre Dame, 74-64) and cracked the USA Today/ESPN and Associated Press Top 25 national rankings for the first time in the history of the program.