| | Cincinnati center Kenyon Martin, who will miss the NCAA
tournament because of a broken leg, received the most votes Monday for
the AP All-America basketball team.
Iowa State forward Marcus Fizer was second in the balloting.
Also selected to the first team were Indiana guard A.J. Guyton,
Texas center Chris Mihm and Notre Dame forward Troy Murphy.
Martin, just one vote shy of being a unanimous selection, also
was the Conference USA player of the year after averaging 18.9
points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocked shots. The 6-foot-8 senior
broke his leg three minutes into the Bearcats' tournament
quarterfinal matchup with Saint Louis.
The loss caused Cincinnati, ranked No. 1 at the time, to be
selected as second seed for the NCAA Tournament.
"I'm very happy to receive this honor," said Martin, a
three-time defensive player of the year in the conference. "It's
one that I have to share with my coaches and teammates. They've
done so much for me and my career and they have been so supportive
with my injury."
Martin was selected to the first team on all but one of the
ballots from the 68-member national media panel, and had 336 points
in the 5-3-1 system.
"He's very deserving. He is unquestionably the best player in
the country," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said of the Bearcats'
first All-America selection since Danny Fortson in 1997. "Aside
from the obvious, in terms of his contribution, he brings more
intangibles to the floor than anybody in college basketball. As
great a player as Kenyon is, he is even a greater person."
Fizer, the Big 12 player of the year and the conference's
leading scorer the last two seasons, led the Cyclones to their
first league title since 1945 and is their first All-American since
Gary Thompson in 1957.
The 6-8 junior averaged 23.2 points and 7.5 rebounds while
shooting 57 percent from the field, including 43 percent from
3-point range. He received 57 first-team votes and 313 points.
Guyton, the Big Ten player of the year and the fourth-leading
scorer in Indiana history with 2,097 points, was on 33 first-team
ballots and had 226 points.
The 6-1 senior averaged 20.3 points this season while shooting
42 percent from 3-point range. He is Indiana's career leader with
280 3-pointers, and was the first Hoosier to be an All-American
since Calbert Cheaney in 1993.
Mihm received just 17 first-team votes, but his 200 points were
one more than Murphy, who was on 27 first-team ballots.
Mihm, a 7-foot junior, averaged 17.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and
2.4 blocks while shooting 53 percent for the Longhorns. He is
Texas' first All-American since the AP began selecting a team in
1948. In 1935, Jack Gray was a consensus All-America selection.
"We had a lot of goals as a team and a lot of individual goals
this season, and this was one of them," Mihm said. "It feels
great to achieve that. I was mentioned as a preseason All-America,
and that's nice and all but it really doesn't count until the
season's over and you've done it."
Murphy, the Big East player of the year, was the first player to
lead the conference in scoring and rebounding in the same season.
The 6-9 sophomore averaged 22.8 points and 10.8 rebounds, and is
Notre Dame's first All-American since Adrian Dantley repeated in
1976.
"It's a great honor for Troy and the Notre Dame basketball
program," said first-year Fighting Irish coach Matt Doherty.
"It's great to see Troy recognized for his hard work. There is not
a more deserving individual than Troy because of his work in
basketball and the type of young man that he is."
Two players from Duke and Michigan State led the second team.
Duke senior guard Chris Carrawell, who finished one point behind
Murphy in the voting, and teammate Shane Battier, a junior forward,
were selected to the second team. Michigan State senior guard
Mateen Cleaves, a first-team selection last season and a
second-team pick in 1998 who missed the first 10 weeks this season
with a broken foot, and teammate Morris Peterson, a senior forward,
also were on the second team.
The final member of the second team was Fresno State senior
guard Courtney Alexander, the nation's leading scorer at 25.3
points per game.
Ohio State senior guard Scoonie Penn was a third-team selection
for the second straight season, and he was joined by seniors Pepe
Sanchez of Temple, Mark Madsen of Stanford and Eduardo Najera of
Oklahoma, and LSU sophomore Stromile Swift.
None of the players selected for the preseason All-America team
made the first team. Joining Penn and Cleaves on that team were
Chris Porter of Auburn, Quentin Richardson of DePaul and Terence
Morris of Maryland. | |
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