Kansas Senior Sherron Collins Named Wooden Award All-American

April 1, 2010

LOS ANGELES – Kansas senior Sherron Collins was named to the 10-member John R. Wooden Award All-American team the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Thursday.

The 2010 John R. Wooden Award All-American team includes James Anderson of Oklahoma State, Da’Sean Butler of West Virginia, DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky; Wesley Johnson of Syracuse, Scottie Reynolds of Villanova, Jon Scheyer of Duke, Evan Turner of Ohio State, Greivis Vasquez of Maryland and John Wall of Kentucky. From the team, the top five vote-getters will be invited to Los Angeles for the April 9 announcement of the 2010 John R. Wooden Award winner as college basketball’s player of the year, streamed live by CBS College Sports Network.

Collins is the first Kansas Wooden Award All-American since Brandon Rush twice earned the accolade in 2007 and 2008. Should he be named a finalist, he would be the first KU finalist since Wayne Simien in 2005. KU assistant coach Danny Manning won the Wooden Award in 1988.

As a senior in 2009-10, Collins led Kansas in scoring with 15.5 points per game average as KU went 33-3, won the Big 12 regular-season by four games at 15-1, won the Big 12 Tournament and entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. A 5-11 guard from Chicago, Collins was the most outstanding player of the 2010 Big 12 Championship and also led KU in assists with 161, three-point field goals made with 70 and three-pointers attempted with 189. Collins’ 85.5 free throw percentage in 2009-10 ranked second in the Big 12 and 44th nationally.

During Collins’ four year career, Kansas won four Big 12 regular-season titles, three Big 12 postseason championship titles, advanced to three NCAA Tournament Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights, one Final Four and won one NCAA National Championship. Of a possible 12 postseason titles (league regular season, league tourney and NCAA Tournament), Collins was a part of Kansas’ eight titles won in the last four seasons. Collins was part of the most wins in a four-year span in Kansas basketball history with 130 victories. The 130 wins ties for fifth most in NCAA history.

“There are a lot of great players in college basketball and to be named to this team is a great honor,” Collins said. “I have to give credit to my teammates and coaches. Without them there is no way I would have done this. We had a great season that ended on a sour note, but I am very proud of our accomplishments.”

Balloting by members of the media and college basketball experts was conducted over the past three weeks. Voters selected 10 players from the 26 athletes listed on the ballot, and ranked them from 1 to 10. Voters were asked to take into account performance during the regular season and postseason through the Elite Eight, as well as a player’s character and academic performance, essential components of an outstanding player. All players on the ballot were certified by their schools as maintaining a 2.0 GPA at their current school.

Collins will be in Indianapolis starting Friday as one of four Naismith Trophy finalists. Additionally, he will receive numerous other honors throughout the weekend. Please check out the daily blog at www.kuathletics.com for other activities Collins and junior Cole Aldrich will be participating in at the 2010 Final Four.

The 34th John R. Wooden Award Presentation Gala will be held at 6:30 p.m. on April 9 at The Los Angeles Athletic Club, 431 W. Seventh Street in Los Angeles. In addition to honoring the John R. Wooden Award All American teams, the “Legends of Coaching” Award will be presented to Florida’s Billy Donovan, who made his 10th appearance as a coach in the NCAA Tournament this year. The final vote tally will be released that night as well. Tickets are $105 and may be obtained by calling The Los Angeles Athletic Club at (213) 630-5200; the event always sells out. Internet users may watch the announcement live at 7:30 p.m. that night on the CBS College Sports Network, by using the following link: http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=cs&media=175037

The winners will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their university’s general scholarship fund. The Women’s John R. Wooden All-America team was announced yesterday.

Men’s 2010 John R. Wooden Award All American Team

Name, school (Ht., Class, Position)

James Anderson, Oklahoma State (6-6, Jr., G)

Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia (6-7, Sr., F)

Sherron Collins, KANSAS (5-11, Sr., G)

DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky (6-11, Fr., F)

Wesley Johnson, Syracuse (6-7, Jr., F)

Scottie Reynolds, Villanova (6-2, Jr., G)

Jon Scheyer, Duke (6-5, Sr., G)

Evan Turner, Ohio State (6-7, Jr., G/F)

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (6-6, Sr., G)

John Wall, Kentucky (6-4, Fr., G)

Sherron Collins Accolades

2009-10: Wooden Award All-American… Associated Press All-America Second Team… USBWA All-American First Team… Naismith Player of the Year Finalist (top 4)… USBWA All-American First Team… Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player… Sporting News All-American Second Team… FoxSports.com All-America Second Team… Yahoo! Sports All-American Second Team… All-Big 12 First Team… USBWA District VI… Naismith Trophy Midseason Candidate (top 30)… Oscar Robinson Award Finalist (by USBWA, one of 16)… Bob Cousy Award Finalist (top 11)… Wooden Award Midseason Candidate (top 30)… Preseason AP All-America… Big 12 Preseason Co-Player of the Year… Preseason All-Big 12… Naismith Trophy Watch List… Preseason Wooden Award Candidate. 2008-09: NABC All-American Second Team… USBWA All-America Second Team… Sporting News All-America Third Team… All-Big 12 First Team… NABC District 8 First Team… Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week (March 2)… Oscar Robertson Trophy finalist… Naismith Trophy Mid-Season candidate… Wooden Award Mid-Season candidate (top 30)… Bob Cousy Award finalist… CBS Chevrolet Player of the Game vs. Michigan State (Jan. 10)… Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week (Jan. 5)… Naismith Trophy Watch List… CBE Classic All-Tournament Team… Wooden Award Preseason Watch List… Preseason All-Big 12. 2007-08: Big 12 Sixth Man Award… Big 12 All-Reserve Team (media)… co-Big 12 Player of the Week (March 9)… Preseason Honorable Mention AP All-American… Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention. Summer 2007: Team USA Pan-Am Trials. 2006-07: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention… Big 12 All-Rookie Team… Big 12 All-Freshman team by media… Athletic Director’s and Big 12 Commissioner’s honor rolls (spring 2007).