Horizon League Announces Men's Basketball All-League Teams and Specialty Award Winners

Feb. 27, 2006

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Senior forward Brandon Polk and coach Todd Lickliter of Butler University earned top honors as the Horizon League announced its men's basketball All-League Teams and specialty award winners Monday (Feb. 27). Polk was named the League Player of the Year, while Lickliter garnered Coach of the Year honors.

Sophomore forward Othyus Jeffers of the University of Illinois at Chicago captured the third individual award, winning Newcomer of the Year accolades. All three honors are the result of voting by League head coaches and sports information directors plus selected media representatives from throughout the League.

Polk averaged 17.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game to pace the Bulldogs to a second-place finish in the regular season. His scoring pace is fourth-best in the League and includes a 57.3 percent touch from the field which is second on the loop charts in that category, matching his standing with a 1.55 blocks-per-game norm. Polk has scored 20 or more points in 14 games this season. The Wichita, Kan., native posted a season-high 29 points versus Cleveland State University on Jan. 11 and scored 26 in four other contests. He is the first Butler player to win the League's top honor since Ryan Hainje in 2001-02.

Lickliter won the coaching accolade after directing BU to an 11-5 League record as part of an 18-11 overall standard. The Bulldogs were picked to finish fifth in the League's preseason poll, but remained in contention for a share of the regular-season title until losing 73-71 at Detroit on a shot with 1.3 seconds to play in Saturday's finale. He posted his 100th career coaching victory on Feb. 22, reaching that mark faster than any coach in BU history (151 games), Lickliter is the third Butler mentor to win the award, joining four-time winner Barry Collier and 2000-01 honoree Thad Matta.

Jeffers made an immediate impact on the Flame program, ranking third in the League at 7.6 rebounds per game while also averaging 11.8 points and a team-best 2.93 assists per contest. The Chicago native tops the circuit with 11 games of ten or more rebounds and has registered seven double-doubles in his debut campaign. Jeffers has scored in double figures in 20 of the Flames' 29 games, including five of the last six.

Polk headlines the five-player First-Team All-League squad, along with Blake Schilb of Loyola University Chicago, Joah Tucker from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, DaShaun Wood of Wright State University and Quin Humphrey from Youngstown State University. Schilb and Tucker are repeat selections to the First-Team unit, while Polk and Wood each stepped up from their Second-Team status last season.

Schilb finished the regular season atop the League scoring charts at 19.1 points per game, with 15 contests of 20 or more points. The six-foot-seven junior also tops the circuit as an 83.8 percent shooter at the free-throw line and ranks among the League leaders in all ten major statistical categories including assists (fifth at 3.85 per game) rebounding (15th, 5.1 per game), steals (sixth, 1.37 per contest) and assist-to-turnover ratio (11th at 1.24).

Tucker ranks sixth on the League scoring charts at 16.4 points per game, leading the Panthers to their third consecutive regular-season championship. The senior forward from Milwaukee---the League Preseason Player of the Year---has pulled down 6.1 rebounds per game (ninth-best on the loop charts) to pace UWM to a 19-8 overall record, including a 12-4 mark which puts the Panthers as the top seed for the League Championship.

Wood averaged 18.0 points per game (third in the League) and tied for the regular-season lead with his 1.78 steals-per-game pace. The five-foot-11 junior also dished out 124 assists (fourth at 4.59 per game) while collecting an average of 4.6 rebounds per contest.

Humphrey trails Schilb by 0.03 points per game on the loop scoring chart (19.1 per game) and tops the loop charts with his 8.4 rebounds-per-game norm. The six-foot-four junior could become only the second player ever to lead the League in both categories and scored 30 or more points in three consecutive games in January.

The Second-Team All-League squad includes a repeat selection in Brandon Cotton of the University of Detroit Mercy, along with Ryan Evanochko from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Justin Bowen of UIC plus UW-Milwaukee teammates Boo Davis and Adrian Tigert. Cotton ranks fifth in the League in scoring at 17.7 points per game, with Evanochko seventh at 16.0 per contest, Davis eighth at 16.0 and Bowen ninth at 14.6. Tigert's 7.4 rebounds-per-contest norm puts him fifth on that list.

Joining Jeffers on the All-Newcomer Team are Leon Young of Loyola and UIC's Josh Mayo, plus Mike Schachtner of UW-Green Bay and Youngstown State junior Keston Roberts. Young is fourth in the League in rebounding at 7.5 per game and has posted five double-doubles in his first collegiate season. Mayo leads all freshmen with his 2.59 assists per game, while Roberts paces the newcomers at 14.4 points per outing (tenth in the League). Schachtner has averaged 10.4 points per game to help the Phoenix to the #3 seed in the League Championship.

The five-member All-Defensive Team, selected by the League's nine head coaches, features Wood and Tigert plus Loyola's Majak Kou, Detroit's Torvoris Baker, UW-Green Bay's Terry Evans. Kou leads the League at 1.56 blocks per game and is third with 1.67 steals per outing, while Evans was one spot behind on the latter list at 1.66. Baker finished the regular-season second on the loop rebounding charts at 7.7 caroms per contest.

The 2006 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship begins Tuesday (Feb. 28) with first-round games at campus sites. From there, action moves to Milwaukee, Wis., and U.S. Cellular Arena for second-round games on Friday (Mar. 3) and semifinals on Saturday (Mar. 4), with Saturday's doubleheader slated for a national audience via ESPNU. The higher-remaining seed earns the right to host the championship game next Tuesday (Mar. 7). The Horizon League's automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament is on the line in that (9 p.m. Eastern time) contest, which airs live on ESPN.

2005-06 Horizon League All-League Teams

All-League First-Team
Brandon Polk, Butler
Blake Schilb, Loyola
Joah Tucker, UW-Milwaukee
DaShaun Wood, Wright State
Quin Humphrey, Youngstown State

All-League Second-Team
Brandon Cotton, Detroit
Justin Bowen, UIC
Ryan Evanochko, UW-Green Bay
Boo Davis, UW-Milwaukee
Adrian Tigert, UW-Milwaukee

All-Newcomer Team
Othyus Jeffers, UIC
Josh Mayo, UIC5-10
Leon Young, Loyola
Mike Schachtner, UW-Green Bay
Keston Roberts, Youngstown State

All-Defensive Team
Torvoris Baker, Detroit
Majak Kou, Loyola
Terry Evans, UW-Green Bay
Adrian Tigert, UW-Milwaukee
DaShaun Wood, Wright State

Player of the Year: Brandon Polk, Butler
Newcomer of the Year: Othyus Jeffers, UIC
Coach of the Year:Todd Lickliter, Butler

Note: All-League and All-Newcomer awards are voted upon by Horizon League head coaches and sports information directors plus selected media that cover the League; The All-Defensive Team is selected by head coaches only.

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