BATON ROUGE — Three Louisiana men’s college basketball teams reached the NCAA Tournament this season and their top players appropriately headline the 2005 All-Louisiana Collegiate Basketball Team, topped by dynamic LSU sophomore forward Brandon Bass, a landslide pick for Player of the Year honors.
Tigers teammate Glen Davis was an overwhelming choice as the state’s Freshman of the Year. Sharing Newcomer of the Year accolades were Tiras Wade of Louisiana-Lafayette and Ricky Woods from Southeastern Louisiana, whose teams threatened to pull upsets of high seeds in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. Billy Kennedy, who steered SLU to its first NCAA appearance and its first-ever back-to-back 20-win seasons, was a repeat pick as state Coach of the Year.
The 15-man All-Louisiana squad, the individual honors and a group of 12 honorable mention picks were chosen by a 32-member Louisiana Sports Writers Association voting panel of media, coaches and sports information directors from around the state. Nine of the top 15 players are Louisiana natives. Only three seniors made the team.
Bass was joined on the five-man All-Louisiana first team by Woods, Davis, Louisiana Tech’s Paul Millsap and Bo McCalebb of New Orleans. All five are Louisiana natives and are underclassmen with Bass, Millsap and McCalebb as sophomores, Woods as a junior and Davis as a freshman.
Wade headed the second team along with LSU-Shreveport sharpshooter Fredericko Payne, SLU’s Nate Lofton, ULL’s Brian Hamilton and Chad Maclies of Centenary.
Jermaine Wallace of Southland Conference co-champion Northwestern State topped the third team, which also included Grambling’s Brion Rush, Christopher Alexander from Southern, Lamar Clark of Southern-New Orleans and Quincy Davis from Tulane.
Honorable mention picks were Antonio Hudson, Darrell Mitchell and Tack Minor from LSU; ULL’s Orien Greene and Dwayne Mitchell; LSU-Shreveport’s Derrick Hill and Derrick Rogers; Peter Cipriano of Southern, Edward Garriet of McNeese, Casey Meador from Louisiana College and Johnathan Patton of Southeastern.
Bass, a 6-8 Baton Rouge product, was the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year while averaging 17.3 points and 9.1 rebounds. He sank 57 percent of his shots, 46 percent of his 3-pointers, 78 percent on free throws and averaged 1.6 blocks per game.
Davis, a burly 6-9 Baton Rouge native, averaged 13.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and sank 51 percent of his shots while being named the SEC Freshman of the Year and earning second-team All-SEC honors.
Woods helped Southeastern share the SLC championship in his first year with the Lions. The 6-6 New Orleans product aveaged 17.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and hit 56 percent of his shots while earning SLC Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-Southland honors. He was the SLC Tournament Most Valuable Player as the Lions won their trip to the NCAA Tournament by surprising Northwestern State on the road.
Wade was the Sun Belt Conference Tournament MVP and the SBC Newcomer of the Year. The 6-6 junior guard averaged 20.4 points and hit 82 percent of his free throws for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Kennedy outpolled Northwestern’s Mike McConathy in the only close election for individual honors. Kennedy took a team picked fifth in the preseason SLC coaches’ poll to a share of the regular-season league title and an all-time SLU best 24 wins. His Lions allowed only 55.8 points per game, the best defensive figure in Southland Conference history.
Millsap led the nation in rebounding for the second straight season, averaging 12.4 per game, with a 20.4 scoring average in his sophomore season. The 6-8 forward, a Grambling native, shot 58 percent from the field and averaged 1.9 blocks per game while cracking the career 1,000-point milestone with two seasons remaining.
McCalebb, a homegrown 6-foot sophomore guard for UNO, was the nation’s No. 5 scorer with his 22.6 average while earning first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors. He averaged 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists while sinking 48 percent of his shots.
Hamilton topped Louisiana-Lafayette in rebounding (226), blocked shots (37) and steals (3) while scoring 13.7 points per game for the Sun Belt champion Ragin’ Cajuns. The 6-11 Lofton contributed 11.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks while hitting 54 percent of his shots for Southeastern, earning first-team All-SLC honors as the core of the Lions’ defense that ranked fourth nationally in fewest points allowed.
Maclies led Centenary in scoring (18.0), rebounding, (8.1), field goal percentage (52) and steals (1.4) in his senior season. Payne poured in a state-best 25.5 points per game, averaging three steals as the 5-10 Dubach product led LSU-S to a 27-9 record that included a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference co-championship with SUNO and a trip to the NAIA Sweet 16. He was the GCAC Player of the Year.
Wallace was the only double-figure scorer for Northwestern, which won its first conference crown in 31 seasons. He averaged 11.9 points per game for the Demons. Grambling’s Rush, a Shreveport product, led the Tigers with a 17.6 scoring average and snagged 5.6 rebounds from his guard slot.
Alexander averaged 14.5 points for Southern from his point guard slot. Clark pumped in 17.9 points per game for a 17-9 SUNO squad that shared the GCAC championship and he earned honorable mention NAIA All-America recognition. Davis was Tulane’s leading scorer (13.7 per game) and rebounder (6.1 pg) from his center position, and he ranked 10th nationally with his 61.2 shooting percentage.
Including honorable mention selections, LSU had all five of its starters picked while ULL had four players and Southeastern and LSU-Shreveport had three each. Southern had two players honored while Northwestern, McNeese, Tulane, Centenary, UNO and Louisiana Tech each had one on the team.
2005 All-Louisiana Collegiate Basketball Team
as chosen by a Louisiana Sports Writers Association panel
FIRST TEAM
Brandon Bass, LSU, So., F, 6-8, Baton Rouge SEC Player of the Year
Paul Millsap, La. Tech, So., F, 6-8, Grambling Nation’s leading rebounder (12.4)
Ricky Woods, Southeastern La., Jr., G, 6-6, New Orleans Southland Tournament MVP
Bo McCalebb, UNO, So., G, 6-0, New Orleans Nation’s No. 4 scorer (22.6)
Glen Davis, LSU, Fr., F, 6-9, Baton Rouge SEC Freshman of the Year
SECOND TEAM
Tiras Wade, Lousiana-Lafayette, Jr., F, 6-6, Tampa, Fla. Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year
Fredericko Payne, LSU-Shreveport, Jr., G, 5-10, Dubach Gulf Coast Player of the Year
Nate Lofton, Southeastern La., Sr., C, 6-11, New Orleans All-SLC First Team
Brian Hamilton, Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., F, 6-6, Missouri City, TX All-SBC Second Team
Chad Maclies, Centenary, Sr., F, 6-5, Kingwood, TX All-Mid Con Second Team
THIRD TEAM
Jermaine Wallace, Northwestern State, Jr.,, G, 6-3, Heflin All-SLC Second Team
Brion Rush, Grambling, Jr., G, 6-2, Shreveport All-SWAC First Team
Christopher Alexander, Southern, Jr., G, 6-1, Lawton, OK 14.5 ppg
Lamar Clark, Southern-New Orleans, Sr., G, 6-3, Mobile, Ala. All-GCAC First Team
Quincy Davis, Tulane, 6-9, Jr., C, Los Angeles, Cal. 10th nationally in FG% (61.2)
HONORABLE MENTION
Antonio Hudson, Darrell Mitchell, Tack Minor, LSU; Derrick Rogers, Derrick Hill, LSU-Shreveport; Orien Greene, Dwayne Mitchell, Louisiana-Lafayette; Peter Cipriano, Southern; Edward Garriet, McNeese; Casey Meador, Louisiana College; Johnathan Patton, Southeastern
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Brandon Bass, LSU
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Tiras Wade, Louisiana-Lafayette and Ricky Woods, Southeastern Louisiana (tie)
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – Glen Davis, LSU
COACH OF THE YEAR – Billy Kennedy, Southeastern Louisiana