Duke's Williams not only repeats, he's a unanimous All-America pick

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Posted 3:22PM on Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Jason Williams was a unanimous selection to the AP All-America team Tuesday, the second year in a row the junior guard was picked for the first team. Joining Williams on the first team were junior forward Drew Gooden of Kansas and senior guards Steve Logan of Cincinnati, Juan Dixon of Maryland and Dan Dickau of Gonzaga. The 6-foot-2 Williams is the first unanimous All-American since Duke's Elton Brand in 1999 and the 45th player to repeat. The last was Troy Murphy of Notre Damem, who did it last season. Williams was picked on the first team by all 72 voters on the national media panel and had 360 points in the 5-3-1 voting. Each of the past two seasons, one player missed being a unanimous choice by one vote -- Shane Battier of Duke last season and Kenyon Martin of Cincinnati in 2000. Gooden received 70 first-place votes and 356 points, while Logan had 313 points, Dixon 301 and Dickau 248. Williams, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, averaged 21.7 points and 5.4 assists and was the floor leader for the Blue Devils, who were No. 1 in the AP poll for all but four weeks this season. "I am not big on ranking players," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I'll just say he's certainly of the caliber of any kid that I've coached, and he has helped us win a national championship." The top-ranked Blue Devils begin defense of their national title on Thursday. Williams turned to teammates Mike Dunleavy, a second-team selection, and Carlos Boozer, who was voted to the third team, when told of his selection. "It is an honor to be selected AP All-American for the second straight year and special to be a unanimous pick as well," he said. "Honestly, I am as happy for Mike and Carlos, who are great teammates and should be recognized for their outstanding seasons." Williams, who was chosen Tuesday as an alternate for the U.S. team in this summer's World Championships, was the only member of the preseason All-America team to be picked for the postseason honor as well. Williams has already said this will be his last season at Duke. Gooden averaged 20.4 points and 11.3 rebounds, while shooting 51 percent from the field in leading the Jayhawks to the first unbeaten season in the Big 12 and the No. 1 ranking the weeks Duke wasn't there. He was two votes shy of joining Williams as a unanimous pick. "I'm really proud to receive such a prestigious honor," Gooden said. "At the start of the season, I had a number of individual goals, which I knew I could achieve if our team had great success -- and so far we have." Gooden, who has yet to say whether he will return to Kansas next season, is the Jayhawks' first All-America since Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce made the 1998 team. Logan, the two-time Conference USA player of the year, averaged 22 points and 5.2 assists, and established himself as one of the country's clutch players over his career with a number of big end-of-game shots. "It is very gratifying to see how a guy who goes out and works as hard as Steve does, day-in, day-out, can accomplish what he has accomplished during his career here," Bearcats coach Bob Huggins said. "It is all because of his excellent work ethic, which has been so infectious to the others on this year's team." Martin was the last Cincinnati player to earn All-America honors. Dixon led Maryland to its first Final Four appearance last season and to its first No. 1 seeding this year. He averaged 19.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.7 steals for the Terrapins. "It's a great feeling, especially when your team is winning. It's something I can share with everybody," he said. The last Maryland player to be chosen as an All-American was Joe Smith in 1995. Dickau is Gonzaga's first All-American, coming after a season in which the Bulldogs crack the Top Ten for the first time. They finished sixth. A transfer from Washington, Dickau averaged 20.6 points and 4.9 assists, while shooting 47.7 percent from 3-point range this season and was chosen West Coast Conference player of the year. "I can't imagine it," Dickau said when told of his selection. "Obviously it's the biggest compliment in college basketball. You dream about it and set goals, not knowing if those goals will be reached. But most of all, it's great for this program." Dunleavy led the second team with 193 points and was joined by Casey Jacobsen of Stanford, Sam Clancy of Southern California, David West of Xavier and Jared Jeffries of Indiana. Boozer led the third team and was joined by Brandin Knight of Pittsburgh, Jason Gardner of Arizona, Tayshaun Prince of Kentucky and Erwin Dudley of Alabama. Jacobsen was a first-team selection last season. The last player to fall from first team one season to second the next was Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State, who was a second team in 2000 when the Spartans won the national championship. The other members of the preseason All-America team were Kareem Rush of Missouri, Prince, Jacobsen and Frank Williams of Illinois.

Duke&#39;s Williams not only repeats, he&#39;s a unanimous All-America pick

Duke's Williams not only repeats, he's a unanimous All-America pick