Four Horizon League players honored by collegeinsider.com
March 20, 2007
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Indianapolis, Ind. -- Three members of the All-Horizon League men's basketball first team were honored earlier this week as members of the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major All-America Team. Butler University junior guard A.J. Graves and Loyola University Chicago senior guard Blake Schilb joined League Player of the Year DaShaun Wood of Wright State University on the 21-member squad.
Wright State guard Vaughn Duggins was one of 16 players named to the Mid-Major Freshman All-America Team.
Graves has led the Bulldogs to a League-record 29 victories and a place in the Sweet 16 at the NCAA Championship. The 6-1 junior scored 18 points in an opening-round victory over Old Dominion University last Thursday (March 15) and came back with 19 as Butler ousted fourth-seeded University of Maryland, 62-59, on Sunday (March 17). Graves ranks fourth in the League in scoring at 17.1 points per game and has hit a circuit-high 97 three-pointers this season while also ranking second in the nation with a .953 free-throw percentage. Butler meets defending top seed and national champion University of Florida in a regional semifinal Friday (March 23).
"He was born to shoot a basketball. He opened the season with 48 points in consecutive wins over Notre Dame and Indiana, and did nothing to disappoint for he remainder of the season," explained collegeinsider.com staff writer Angela Lento, who described Graves as "the heart and soul of the Butler Bulldogs."
Schilb stands fifth on the loop scoring charts (17.0 points per game) and third with a rate of 4.00 assists per game. The veteran closed the season among the League's top ten performers in eight of the ten major statistical categories. The only player in Loyola history to accumulate more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists in his career, Schilb ranks fourth on the school's all-time scoring chart. He became only the 11th player in League history to earn First-Team All-League honors three times, and finished his career 14th in circuit history with 1,879 career points.
"One of the best all-around players that you've never heard of before," Lento said in describing Schilb's performance. "His 17 points, (5.2) rebounds and four assists may not suggest greatness, but that's what Schilb was all about in his career. In his final two games he put the team on his back, scoring 60 points in conference tournament games against (the University of Illinois at Chicago) and Butler."
Wood led Wright State to its first-ever League championship and a 23-10 overall record, topping the League in scoring (19.6 points per game) and steals (1.94 per contest) while also ranking fourth with 3.97 assists per outing. He closed his career ranked 16th on the League's all-time charts with 1,849 points, inclding 648 this season. The senior guard scored in double figures in all 33 games this season with 17 games of 20 or more points as WSU recorded its best season since joining Division I in 1987. The Raiders earned the League's automatic entry to the NCAA Championship before falling to the University of Pittsburgh in the opening round.
"One of the best players under six feet in all of college basketball" is how Lento described Wood, adding "He always seemed to raise his game to another level against better competition His two best games of the year (statistically) came against Butler (30 points, six rebounds, six assists) and Loyola (32 points, four rebounds)." Wood also scored a game-high 27 points with eight boards and five assists in the League Championship game.
Duggins made a dramatic impact in his first collegiate season, averaging nine points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He started all but one of the Raiders' 33 contests and logged 32.7 minutes per game. He scored in double figures a dozen times, including 12 points in the NCAA loss to Pittsburgh and a season-best 16 versus Marist College on Dec. 19.
The publication's All-America Team features three players from Butler's opponent Friday night as Florida teammates Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer were cited along with UCLA guard Aaron Afflalo, University of Texas forward Kevin Durant, University of Nevada forward Nick Fazekas, University of North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough, Ohio State University center Greg Oden and University of Wisconsin forward Alando Tucker. The rest of that team includes Rice Unviersity's Morris Almond, Boston College's Jared Dudley, Georgetown University's Jeff Green, Trey Johnson of Jackson State University, Acie Law IV of Texas A&M University, Sean Singletary from the University of Virginia and Rodney Stuckey of Eastern Washington University.
Southern Illinois University guard Jamaal Tatum was named to the Mid-Major All-America Team, and leads the Salukis into this weekend's action at the NCAA Championship. The rest of the honor roll includes several other NCAA participants in Winthrop University center Craig Bradshaw, Davidson College guard Stephen Curry, Creighton teammates Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver, Oral Roberts University forward Caleb Green, Virginia Commonwealth University guard Eric Maynor, Gonzaga University guard Derek Raivio, College of the Holy Cross guard Keith Simmons, and University at Albany guard Jamar Wilson.
Loyola (Md.) University guard Gerald Brown, University of North Carolina-Greensboro forward Kyle Hines, Marist guard Jared Jordan, Western Kentucky Unviersity guard Courtney Lee, University of New Orleans guard Bo McCalebb, Towson University guard Gary Neal, Hofstra University guard Loren Stokes, and Rider University forward Jason Thompson rounded out the list. Johnson and Stuckey were eliminated from Mid-Major All-America consideration after landing on the national honor roll.
The collegeinsider.com honor teams are selected as one group, rather than assembling first, second, third and subsequent teams. Division I coaches and NBA scouts are included in the selection process, with the collegeinsider.com staff making final decisions. For more information on these and other awards, log on to www.collegeinsider.com.
Note: The complete list of honorees can be found in the PDF version of this release.
