Steve Francis was named one of the nation's 10 best college basketball players last night when he was selected to the Associated Press All-America second team.
A 6-foot-3 junior-college transfer from Takoma Park, Francis received the highest honor for a Maryland player since Joe Smith was the consensus national Player of the Year in 1995.
"It's a good honor, even though the season is still young," Francis said. "This was one of my individual goals, and it's something I'll savor after the season."
Duke sophomore center Elton Brand was the only unanimous choice on the first team. The other first-teamers were junior forward Richard Hamilton of Connecticut, senior guards Andre Miller of Utah and Jason Terry of Arizona and junior guard Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State.
Maryland forwards Terence Morris and Laron Profit received honorable mention, as did Shawnta Rogers (Lake Clifton) of George Washington.
Francis led Maryland to a second-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament's South Regional, where the Terps will meet Valparaiso on Thursday (12: 20 p.m.) in Orlando, Fla. If the Terps reach the Final Four for the first time, they'll thank Francis.
He leads the Terps in scoring average, 17.2, and his 2.9 steals per game led the ACC. Francis has made 52.4 percent of his field-goal attempts, a high rate for a shooting guard, and has been impressive in his ability to break down a defense and shoot three-pointers.
Brand, who averaged 17.8 points and 9.8 rebounds for the top-ranked Blue Devils, was named on all 72 first-team ballots by the national media panel to become the fourth unanimous selection of the '90s. The others were Christian Laettner of Duke in 1992, Glenn Robinson of Purdue in 1994 and Tim Duncan of Wake Forest in 1997.
"It's unbelievable. I'm just elated right now. Just to have been considered for a position of first-team All-America is a special, special honor," said Brand, who shot 62 percent from the field one year after missing almost half his freshman season with a broken foot. "I knew I worked hard, and the hard work paid off. Growing up it's one of the things you definitely dream of."
Miller was the second-leading vote-getter in the 5-3-1 process, getting 330 points with 60 first-team votes. The Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.5 steals, and the 6-2 guard was given more credit for his team leadership than statistics.
Joining Francis on the second team were senior center Evan Eschmeyer of Northwestern, junior forward Chris Porter of Auburn, senior forward Wally Szczerbiak of Miami of Ohio and senior guard Trajan Langdon of Duke, a third-team choice last season.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Pub Date: 3/09/99