Illinois-Chicago Diary (Regular Season Roundup)

Final IP Poll:
1. Florida
2. Tennessee
3. North Carolina
4. Temple
5. Illinois
6. Kansas
7. Oklahoma
8. Ohio State
9. Indiana
10. UCLA
11. Mississippi
12. Kentucky
13. Georgetown
14. Arizona
15. Michigan State
16. Stanford
17. Boston College
18. Missouri
19. Duke
20. UConn
21. Maryland
22. Texas
23. USC
24. Syracuse
25. Texas Tech

Final Horizon League standings:

Butler (17-12) 11-5
Wisc.-GB (15-14) 10-6
Youngstown St. (14-14) 10-6
Wright St. (12-17) 8-8
Cleveland St. (15-14) 7-9
UIC (15-14) 7-9
Loyola-Chi. (11-18) 7-9
Detroit (15-14) 6-10
Wisc.-Mil. (10-18) 6-10

Awards:

Horizon League Player of the Week: G #31 Chris Paulding, 6’3” senior, Loyola-Chicago (16 ppg, 7.5 apg, 4.5 spg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: SG #4 Louis Carter, 6’3” freshman, Detroit (11.5 ppg, 6 apg)
National Player of the Week: PG Emmanuel Squire, 6’3” junior, UCLA (30 ppg, 6 apg, 6.5 rpg, 7 spg)
National Freshman of the Week: SF Rashad Millford, 6’6” freshman, Alabama-Birmingham (24 ppg, 12 rpg)

Year-End Awards:

Horizon League All-Conference Team

G #34 Jerome Betts, 5’11” senior, Butler (11 ppg, 7.4 apg)
G #5 Adonis Harris, 6’1” senior, Detroit (9.9 ppg, 7.4 apg)
G #31 Paul Marvel, 6’2” senior, Wright State (13.5 ppg, 4.8 apg) — A controversial~! Player of the Year pick
F #31 Martin Sanchez, 6’10” senior, Detroit (15.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg)
C #11 Gabriel Ichaki, 6’6” senior, Butler (12.4 ppg, 14.6 rpg, 2.8 bpg)

I’m sorry, what? This is a joke, right? Marvel wasn’t even the best player on his own team (Andy Hayes, anyone?) or even in the city of Dayton, Ohio (the Flyers’ Wes Trombley averaged 17.2 points), much less the entire Horizon League. Ichaki should’ve won this hands down — it’s beyond me how a guy who’s among the national leaders in any category doesn’t win that award.

Horizon League All-Freshman Team

G #12 Chris Merton, 6’3”, Wisconsin-Green Bay (9.5 ppg, 6.8 apg)
G #11 Rashun Cooper, 5’11”, Illinois-Chicago (8.3 ppg, 5.1 apg) — Whoa! This was most unexpected
F #24 Andy Hayes, 6’4”, Wright State (13.1 ppg, 3 rpg) — Freshman of the Year
F #24 Damian Jackson, 6’5”, Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
C #24 Craig Raymond, 6’6”, Butler (5.6 ppg, 3 rpg)

National All-Freshman Team:

G Mills Clark, 6’1” freshman, Texas (13.8 ppg)
F Heath Blizzard, 6’5” freshman, Iowa State (15.4 ppg)
F Clarence Toxey, 6’9” freshman, UConn (10.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg)
F Brett Gates, 6’9” freshman, St. John’s (16.9 ppg, 10.6 rpg) — National Freshman of the Year
C Charles Reeves, 6’11” freshman, Providence (12.3 ppg, 11.7 rpg)

All-America Team:

G Matt Wilson, 6’ sophomore, Boston College (13.1 ppg, 7 apg, 2.5 spg)
F Ronnie Jessup, 6’7” senior, Stanford (16.4 ppg, 2.5 apg)
F Mike DeSantis, 6’8” senior, Oral Roberts (20 ppg, 8.4 rpg)
F #13 Marshod Gottlieb, 6’9” sophomore, San Diego (19.9 ppg, 12 rpg) — National Player of the Year
C Billy Martin, 6’8” senior, Texas Tech (18.7 ppg, 13.1 rpg)