Alexander Named To AP All-America Team
4/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 1, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin's Josh Alexander was named Monday to his third All-America team this season and the fourth of his career, as the junior forward was announced among the honorable-mention selections on the Associated Press All-America team.
Following a 2007-08 season that will go down as one of the best in program history, Alexander, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, has become one of the most decorated players in program history. His selection to the AP All-America team follows honors on both the CollegeHoops.net and CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major All-America squads. Alexander was chosen to the CollegeInsider.com Freshman Mid-Major All-America team in 2005-06. Monday's honor by the AP marks the first appearance by a Lumberjack on a non-mid-major All-America squad since 1982 and the first such selection in SFA's NCAA Division I era.
Alexander averaged a career-best 16.1 points per game and pulled down 5.9 rebounds per contest this season. Those figures ranked third and 16th, respectively, in the Southland Conference. Alexander led the league in 3-point field goals at 3.03 per game. He was rewarded by earning the first Southland Conference Player of the Year honor in school history. Alexander was also given the SLC Player of the Year tag by CollegeInsider.com. Alexander finished the season at 34th in the country in 3-pointers per game, and his 41-percent accuracy from beyond the arc ranked 38th in the nation at season's end.
Alexander is the only Southland Conference player listed among the AP All-America ranks this season. In addition to his four All-America selections, Alexander is a three-time All-SLC honoree, having been named SLC Freshman of the Year in 2005-06 and earning third-team honors a year ago.
The Shreveport, La., native broke into the SFA 1,000-point scorers club this season and finished the season with 1,272 points, one point shy of tying Marvin Polnick for 12th place on the school's all-time career scoring list. Alexander also pulled down a career-best 184 rebounds this season, giving him 517 for his career. He is just the second player in SFA's Division I era to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career. The first, Nathan Randle, did so between the 1991-92 and 1993-94 seasons. Alexander is also the first SFA player in 51 years to lead the Lumberjacks in scoring and rebounding for three consecutive seasons. C.L. Nix paced SFA in both categories three straight campaigns, beginning in the 1954-55 season.
As a team, the Lumberjacks went 26-6 this season, the best single-season win total for the program since joining the NCAA Division I ranks for the 1986-87 season and the fourth-best win total, at any level of competition, in school history. SFA posted a 13-3 record in Southland Conference play and captured the first SLC title in school history. The Lumberjacks reached the National Invitation Tournament but were eliminated in the first round by UMass. The Minutemen have gone on to reach the Final Four of the NIT and will take on defending national champion Florida Tuesday night.
Associated Press All-America Team
FIRST TEAM
Michael Beasley, Kansas State; Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina; D.J. Augustin, Texas; Kevin Love, UCLA; Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis
SECOND TEAM
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame; Shan Foster, Vanderbilt; D.J. White, Indiana; Stephen Curry, Davidson; Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
THIRD TEAM
Derrick Rose, Memphis; Chris Lofton, Tennessee; Darren Collison, UCLA; Brook Lopez, Stanford; Eric Gordon, Indiana
HONORABLE MENTION
Joe Alexander, West Virginia; Josh Alexander, Stephen F. Austin; Ryan Anderson, California; Darrell Arthur, Kansas; Jerryd Bayless, Arizona; Marqus Blakely, Vermont; Jon Brockman, Washington; Chase Budinger, Arizona; Jaycee Carroll, Utah State; Mario Chalmers, Kansas; Lee Cummard, BYU; Scott Cutley, Cal State-Fullerton; Louis Dale, Cornell; Jeremiah Dominguez, Portland State; Wayne Ellington, North Carolina; Adam Emmenecker, Drake; Al Fisher, Kent State; Gary Forbes, Massachusetts; J.R. Giddens, New Mexico; Jamont Gordon, Mississippi State; Mike Green, Butler; James Harden, Arizona State; Alex Harris, UC Santa Barbara; Andrew Hayles, Alabama State; Richard Hendrix, Alabama; George Hill, IUPUI; Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin; Ty Lawson, North Carolina; Courtney Lee, Western Kentucky; Tony Lee, Robert Morris; Eric Maynor, Virginia Commonwealth; O.J. Mayo, Southern California; Drew Neitzel, Michigan State; DeMarcus Nelson, Duke; David Padgett, Louisville; Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga; A.J. Price, Connecticut; Arizona Reid, High Point; Tyrese Rice, Boston College; Brandon Rush, Kansas; Thomas Sanders, Gardner-Webb; Sean Singletary, Virginia; Jamar Smith, Morgan State; Tyler Smith, Tennessee; Greg Sprink, Navy; Jason Thompson, Rider; Sam Young, Pittsburgh.
-- SFA --
