April 15, 2008

CINCINNATI - -

Xavier University held its annual men's basketball awards banquet tonight at Cintas Center, honoring the record-setting Musketeers and head coach Sean Miller.

Xavier, 30-7, broke the school record for wins and secured its third straight 20-win season and its 11th in the last 12 years. Xavier's ranking of 12th in the final Associated Press Poll equals the school-record ranking of 12th set in the AP Final Poll prior to the 2003 NCAA Tournament. XU's ranking of eighth in the post-tournament USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll is a school record.

The Musketeers advanced to the NCAA Tournament "Elite Eight" for the second time in five years. In fact, Xavier is one of only nine schools that have made the NCAA Tournament "Elite Eight" multiple times in the last five years:  North Carolina (3), UCLA (3), Kansas (3), Memphis (3), Xavier (2), Louisville (2), Texas (2), Florida (2) and Connecticut (2).  XU advanced to the "Elite Eight" for the first time in school history in 2004. Xavier made its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, its seventh in the last eight years and its 18th appearance in the last 26 seasons.

There were a number of awards given out tonight.

The Ernest A. Staak Memorial Award was presented to sophomore Derrick Brown.  The Staak Award goes annually to the player who best exemplifies the life of former XU head coach and athletic director Bob Staak's father, including Ernest Staak's unselfish dedication and love of the game of basketball.

Sophomore Jason Love and junior C.J. Anderson were co-recipients of the Connie Brown Award, which is given annually to the team's most inspirational player.

Junior B.J. Raymond earned the Gordon E. Nead Award, who goes annually to the team's Most Improved Player.

Senior Josh Duncan took home the Lew Hirt Society Coaches Award, which is given annually to the player the coaching staff feels stood out in a significant way during the season.

Duncan, who led Xavier in scoring at 12.4 ppg., earned a spot on the five-member NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team. Duncan, who scored a team-high 18.3 ppg. during the NCAA Tournament, earned CBS/Chevrolet Game MVP honors for each of Xavier's three 2008 NCAA Tournament wins, including a career-high 26 points in the win over West Virginia.

The final award given tonight was the George E. "Skip" Prosser Award, which is a new award named for the late Xavier and Wake Forest head coach who passed away last summer. The first recipient of the Prosser award was senior Stanley Burrell. This award will be presented annually to the player who exemplifies the qualities that Coach Prosser admired.  Like Coach Prosser, this player showed great toughness, an untiring work ethic, a burning competitive spirit and he never backed down from a challenge.  

Burrell was voted the 2007-08 Atlantic 10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year by the A-10 coaches and earned a spot on the National All-Defensive Team for rivals.com and the National Defensive All-America Team selected for collegeinsider.com. Burrell was also named by Seth Davis (Sports Illustrated and CBS) as the Captain of the ninth annual "All-Glue" Team. 

Xavier had four players this season that had over 1,000 points in their collegiate careers, the only team in NCAA Division I with four active 1,000-point scorers for the 2007-08 season. The four Musketeers all received painted basketballs to commemorate them reaching the 1,000-point mark for their collegiate careers. Stanley Burrell finished his career 12th on XU's all-time scoring list with 1,612 points in four seasons as a Musketeer. Josh Duncan became a member of XU's 1,000 Point Club in the game against Saint Joseph's at Cintas Center. He finished his career with 1,210 career points, which is 26th on XU's all-time scoring list. Fellow senior Drew Lavender, who played his first two years at Oklahoma, finished with 1,428 career points in his college career. C.J. Anderson, who was a star at Manhattan for two years, reached the 1,000-point mark during the game at Saint Louis and will have 1,149 points in his college career entering his senior season.

Xavier also honored its team members that received All-Atlantic 10 honors after securing XU's second straight Atlantic 10 Regular Season Championship. Sean Miller was voted as the 2007-08 Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year. Despite winning the league title by three games with a 14-2 record, Xavier's balanced attack placed no players on the All-Atlantic 10 First Team.  But Xavier's three-member senior class did earn plenty of 2007-08 All-Atlantic 10 Conference honors: Stanley Burrell (Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defensive Team and A-10 Third Team), Josh Duncan (Sixth Man of the Year and A-10 Second Team) and Drew Lavender (A-10 Second Team).

There were also awards given for another regular season championship. In addition, Xavier captured the championship of the Chicago Invitational Challenge in November, including a win over then-No. 8 Indiana in the title game.  C.J. Anderson and Drew Lavender were named Co-MVPs of the 2007 Chicago Invitational Challenge, while Josh Duncan also earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.