Langford, Simien and Self Earn USBWA District 6 Honors

March 8, 2005

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Kansas senior Wayne Simien’s accolades continued Tuesday as he was named the 2005 United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District 6 Player of the Year. Additionally, KU’s Bill Self was the USBWA District 6 Coach of the Year.

The USBWA released its nine all-district teams, which consisted of 10 members each. Joining Simien on the USBWA All-District 6 team was fellow senior Keith Langford. The District 6 consists of schools in the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Kansas (22-5, 12-4 Big 12) tied for the 2004-05 Big 12 Conference regular-season championship and enters the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The league title was the fifth career conference championship for Self and his first at KU. Simien leads the Big 12 in scoring (19.4 ppg), rebounding (11.1 rpg) and with 14 double-doubles this season.

2005 USBWA All-District 6
Greg Brunner, Iowa
Nate Funk, Creighton
Joey Graham, Oklahoma State
Taj Gray, Oklahoma
Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa
Keith Langford, KANSAS
John Lucas, Oklahoma State
Tamaar Macklin, Southwest Missouri State
Wayne Simien, KANSAS
Curtis Stinson, Iowa State

District Player of the Year: Wayne Simien, KANSAS
District Coach of the Year: Bill Self, KANSAS