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Badiane Lands Spot on
All-Freshman Team
From Conference USA and Staff Reports
Tigers' Wagner Headlines First-year
Honors Recipients
East Carolina's Moussa Badiane made up for lost time once he
became eligible to play in December. After sitting out most of the first
month of the season as a sanction for participating in non-NCAA-approved
club games in his home country, the French freshman quickly established
himself as an intimidating defensive presence around the basket.
Badiane, a native of Paris, was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman
Team Tuesday, a clear indication of the role he played in helping the
surprising Pirates win five league games and a berth in the league
tournament in their first year of conference membership.
Memphis freshman Dajuan Wagner, who is on pace to
break former Saint Louis star Larry Hughes' C-USA freshman scoring record,
is the Freshman of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday.
Bearcats' McElroy and
Maxiell Earn Accolades
Cincinnati senior swingman Immanuel McElroy, who
has helped spearhead one of the nation's top defenses, was named Conference
USA Defensive Player of the Year, while Bearcat teammate Jason Maxiell was
named Sixth Player of the Year after finishing among the league's Top 20 in
field goal percentage, rebounding and blocked shots.
Joining Badiane, Wagner and Maxiell on the all-freshman team are Marquette
guard Travis Diener and Texas Christina guard Corey Santee.
Wagner enters this week's Conference USA Tournament as the league's
second-leading scorer at 21.4 points per game. He has scored at least 20
points on 20 different occasions, which is tops in C-USA. He also ranks
among the league leaders in assists at 3.43 per game. He has been held to
single digits just once in his college career, and he was recently named to
the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 7 team. Wagner
has helped Memphis to 22 wins, its highest total since 1995-96, as the
Tigers are the third seed in this week's tournament and face the winner of
the Houston-East Carolina first round game in Thursday's 3:30 p.m.
quarterfinal.
Often assigned to guard the opposing team's leading scorer, McElroy has
contributed to a share of Cincinnati's seventh straight Conference USA
regular season title. As the top seed, the Bearcats meet the winner of the
South Florida-UAB first round game in Thursday's 7:00 p.m. quarterfinal.
According to the Feb. 26 NCAA Statistics, Cincinnati leads the nation in
field goal percentage defense (37.0) and is sixth in the nation in scoring
defense (58.4). Only two Cincinnati opponents have hit 50 percent or better
from the floor this season. McElroy, a 6-4 senior from Port Arthur, Texas,
has slowed several of Conference USA's most prolific scorers.
Maxiell has energized Cincinnati off the bench, posting 11 points and nearly
seven rebounds per game in his last four outings. He tied his career scoring
high with 18 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field in a 79-62 victory at
DePaul on Feb. 19. He has recorded multiple block games 11 times, including
a career-high seven rejections against Saint Louis on Feb. 12. The 6-7,
235-pounder is the first freshman in Conference USA history to win the
league's Sixth Player of the Year honor.
Badiane set the Conference USA freshman record with 84 blocked shots, and
this is tied for second on Conference USA's single-season rejection list.
Diener, whose cousins, Drake and Drew, play for C-USA American Division
rivals DePaul and Saint Louis, respectively, is third in the league in
three-point field goal percentage at 43.1 percent. Santee is second in the
league with 5.90 assists per game and is the seventh player in Conference
USA history to record multiple 20-plus point, 10-plus assist games in the
same season.
2001-02 CONFERENCE USA SIXTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jason Maxiell, Cincinnati, F, 6-7, 235, Fr., Carrollton, Texas/Newman Smith
2001-02 CONFERENCE USA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Immanuel McElroy, Cincinnati, G/F, 6-4, 195, Port Arthur,Texas/Lincoln/Tyler
2001-02 CONFERENCE USA FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Dajuan Wagner, Memphis, G, 6-3, 200, Fr., Camden, N.J./Camden
2000-01 CONFERENCE USA ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Moussa Badiane, East Carolina, C, 6-10, 215, Fr., Paris, France
Travis Diener, Marquette, G, 6-0, 160, Fr., Fond DuLac, Wis./Fond DuLac
Jason Maxiell, Cincinnati, F, 6-7, 235, Fr., Carrollton, Texas/Newman Smith
Corey Santee, TCU, G, 6-2,. 185, Fr., Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy
Dajuan Wagner, Memphis, G, 6-3, 200, Fr., Camden, N.J./Camden
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