Jaycee Carroll Named WAC Player of the Year; Gary Wilkinson Named 2nd-Team

A day after leading Utah State to a share of its first-ever Western Athletic Conference regular season championship, Jaycee Carroll was named the conference's player of the year it was announced by the league office on Sunday [March 9, 2008], while teammate Gary Wilkinson was named to the second-team. It is the second time in the last three years that USU has had two players earn all-WAC honors.

Carroll, a 6-2 senior guard from Evanston, Wyo., becomes the fourth player in school history to earn player of the year honors joining Dean Hunger (1980), Greg Grant (1986) and Eric Franson (1995) who were each recognized as the Big West Conference's top player.

 

Carroll, who was tabbed by both the coaches and media as the league's preseason player of the year, earned first-team all-WAC honors for the second straight season. He also was named second-team all-WAC as a sophomore and was a second-team all-Big West honoree as a freshman in 2005, along with earning freshman of the year honors.

 

"Obviously, we are extremely delighted about Jaycee receiving player of the year honors and it is well deserved," said USU head coach Stew Morrill. "Certainly his statistics back up the type of remarkable season that he had. Being picked to be player of the year (in the preseason) is one thing, but actually being player of the year is a tremendous accomplishment."

 

Utah State has now had 15 first-team all-conference selections over the last nine years and it is the ninth straight year that USU has had at least one first-team all-league selection. Overall, Utah State has had 27 first-team all-conference selections in the last 30 years as it was a member of the Big West Conference/Pacific Coast Athletic Association for 27 seasons from 1979-2005 before joining the WAC prior to the 2005-06 campaign.

 

Carroll currently leads the nation in three-point shooting at 50.2 percent, is second in free throw shooting at 92.3 percent and 12th in scoring with 22.7 points per game. He also ranks ninth in the WAC in overall shooting at 53.2 percent and ended the regular season by scoring 20 or more points in 10 of his last 11 games.

 

Wilkinson, a 6-9 junior forward from South Jordan, Utah, ranks eighth in the WAC in rebounding with 6.8 boards per game and 13th in scoring with 13.4 points per contest. He is also fourth in the WAC in overall shooting at 57.9 percent and sixth in free throw shooting at 81.7 percent. Wilkinson, who led Utah State with six double-doubles and scored 10 or more points 24 times during the season, was also named to the league's all-newcomer team.

 

"We are also delighted that Gary was named as an all-conference player," Morrill added. "His game continued to grow throughout the season as his numbers increased from preseason to conference play and I think Gary Wilkinson's best basketball is still ahead of him. This is also a very well deserved honor."

 

Utah State (23-9, 12-4) is the top seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M., and will play either San Jose State (12-18, 4-12) or Louisiana Tech (6-23, 3-13) in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Mar. 13 at 2:30 p.m. The Spartans and Bulldogs will get the tournament started with the play-in game Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

 

2007-08 WAC Men's Basketball Postseason Awards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Player of the Year: Jaycee Carroll, Utah State

 

Freshman of the Year: Armon Johnson, Nevada, G, 6-3, 190, Reno, Nev. (Hug HS)

 

Don Haskins Coach of the Year: Greg Graham, Boise State