Wisconsin point guard Devin Harris will add yet another accolade
to his standout junior season. Harris, the Big Ten Player of the
Year, was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press
Tuesday.
He paced the Badgers in scoring (19.5 ppg) this season and led
the team to a school-record 25 wins, an undefeated home campaign
and a Big Ten tournament title.
His 624 points set a single-season UW record, surpassing the old
mark posted by Michael Finley in 1992-93 (620).
He also set new UW single-season highs in free throws (171),
free-throw attempts (216) and minutes played (1,162).
Harris averaged 23.7 points, 3.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds per
contest during the Badgers’ three-game run to the Big Ten
tournament crown, en route to earning the tournament’s most
outstanding player award.
Through UW’s final 17 contests, he had three 30-point games and
netted 25 or more points seven times.
For his career, he has averaged just one turnover for every 20.3
minutes played and ranks fourth all-time in steals (164).
Harris is a finalist for the Wooden and Rupp Player of the Year
Awards, both of which will be announced after the Final Four of the
NCAA tournament. He is also a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point
Guard of the Year Award.
Joining Harris as second-team All-American selections were
Julius Hodge of North Carolina State, Luke Jackson of Oregon, Andre
Emmett of Texas Tech, and Blake Stepp of Gonzaga.
Headlined by leading vote recipients Emeka Okafor and Jameer
Nelson, who each received a perfect 360 points by being picked on
all 72 first-team ballots, this year’s first team included
representatives from the Big East, Atlantic 10, SEC and Pac-10
conferences.
Connecticut’s Okafor and St. Joseph’s Nelson were joined on the
first team by Mississippi State’s Lawrence Roberts, Stanford’s Josh
Childress and Providence’s Ryan Gomes.
Each member of the media panel selected three All-America teams,
with players receiving points on a 5-3-1 basis.
From 1986-2003, there have only been a total of seven unanimous
selections: Walter Berry of St. John’s (1986), David Robinson of
Navy (1987), Christian Laettner of Duke (1992), Glenn Robinson of
Purdue (1994), Tim Duncan of Wake Forest (1997), Elton Brand of
Duke (1999), and Jason Williams of Duke (2002) — making Okafor and
Nelson’s selections particularly noteworthy.
Wisconsin’s Harris led all second-team vote recipients with 180
points, which trailed Providence’s Ryan Gomes by 28.
UW’s star point guard will need to choose between returning for
his senior season or playing in the NBA by May 10, the early-entry
deadline for declaration into the draft. <
