BATON ROUGE — LSU freshman guard Antonio Hudson of Grambling, La., was named the Louisiana Freshman of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association on the 2002 All-Louisiana Collegiate Men’s Basketball Team announced Sunday.
The team was selected based on nominations from school sports information staffs and voted on by a panel of members of the LSWA.
Hudson erupted in the stretch run to spark LSU to a semifinal berth in the Southeastern Conference Tournament and trip to the NIT, averaging 16.3 points in the Tigers’ last nine games.
His All-SEC tournament honor followed a regular season in which the 6-4 Grambling native averaged 10.5 points and shot 40 percent on 3-pointers (41-102).
Louisiana Tech’s Gerrod Henderson and LSU’s Ronald Dupree led their teams into postseason play this season and led all vote getters on the 2001-02 team.
Henderson edged Dupree as the pick for state Player of the Year. Henderson and Dupree were repeat picks on the All-Louisiana first team.
Joining them on the first unit were Newcomer of the Year Hector Romero of New Orleans, Paul Haynes of Grambling and NCAA record-setting shot blocker Wojciech Myrda from Louisiana-Monroe.
Guard Andrew Wisniewski of Centenary headed the All-Louisiana second team, which also includes McNeese forward Fred Gentry, Tulane forward Brandon Brown, guard Anthony Johnson of Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU guard Torris Bright.
Two freshman, LSU’s Hudson and center Michael Southall of Louisiana-Lafayette, made the All-Louisiana third team, along with Louisiana-Monroe senior forward Brian Lubeck and two Northwestern State players, senior guard Michael Byars-Dawson and sophomore center D’or Fischer.
With three selections, LSU had the most players on the All-Louisiana team. Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe and Northwestern State each had two players chosen. Five of the 15 players honored were seniors with five juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.
Dupree, a 6-7 junior from Biloxi, Miss., averaged 16.2 points and 8.5 rebounds while earning second-team All-SEC honors for LSU. He was the league’s No. 2 rebounder for the second straight season and became the 18th Tigers to grab more than 500 rebounds and score more than 1,000 points.
Bright, the 6-4 Slidell product, averaged 12.8 points and 3.9 assists in his junior season at LSU, steering the Tigers to a win at Iowa in the first round of the NIT.