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April 1, 2008

Daniels named to All-Star team

Will Daniels is going to finish his college basketball career at the Final Four.

The URI forward has been selected to play in the annual National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game Friday in San Antonio. That is the event that kicks off Final Four festivities.

Daniels will play on the same team with Josh Duncan of Xavier, the only other Atlantic 10 player selected.

Others on the National All-Stars, to be coached by Oliver Purnell of Clemson, the past president of the NABC, are Sean Singletary (Virginia), Jonathan Wallace (Georgetown), Cliff Hammonds (Clemson), DeMarcus Nelson (Duke), Ramel Bradley (Kentucky), Shan Foster (Vanderbilt), James Gist (Maryland), Joe Jones (Texas A&M), and Jason Thompson (Rider).

The American All-Stars, to be guided by Dave Odom, the outgoing South Carolina coach, are Jamar Butler (Ohio State), Drew Neitzel (Michigan State), Mike Green (Butler), Courtney Lee (Western Kentucky), Robert McKiver (Houston), Kyle Weaver (Washington State), Alex Harris (UCSB), Maarty Leunen (Oregon), Charles Rhodes (Mississippi State), Brian Butch (Wisconsin) and Aleks Maric (Nebraska).

Daniels is the first URI player ever to take part in the event, which is sponsored by DiGiorno. The game, which will begin at 6 p.m. eastern time Friday, will be telecast by the CBS College Sports network. The game will be held on the same court as the Final Four, the first time that has been done.

Daniels finished his career with 1,678 points and 662 rebounds. This past season, Daniels led URI and ranked fourth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring, averaging 18.6 points per game. He also registered 6.5 rebounds, good for second on the squad and 11th in the conference. The 6-foot-8, 220-pounder is the first URI player since Tyson Wheeler (1996-97, 1997-98) and just the third URI player all-time to earn First Team All-A-10 honors in consecutive seasons.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 3:50 PM | Permalink