2006 College Basketball

1. J.J Redick: Was named the National Player of the Year by the AP, and Sporting News.

 

He won the Naismith and Wooden awards as the nation’s top player.

Redick was the ACC Athlete of the Year and conference player of the year for the second straight season.

He scored an ACC high 26.8 points a game, which was 2^nd best in country. He was second in conference shooting 86% on free throws and 42% on three pointers.

The All-American hit 139 threes on season, which topped the ACC. It the 3^rd time he led the conference in long range makes. He broke, former Virginia guard, Curtis Staples’ career record for three pointers with 457.

The Blue Devils’ guard surpassed 30 points in 14 games,including 41 on then #2 Texas, including nine threes. Duke routed the Longhorn by 31 in the Meadowlands.

Redick was the ACC tournament MVP for the second straight year after leading Duke to back to back titles. Averaged 23 PPG, 15-34 3s (44%) in over 38 minutes a game.

In the finals, he scored 26 and hit seven three balls as Duke got past #7 Boston College.

In the NCAAs, he averaged 24.5 PPG on 50% from the field in wins over Southern and #14 George Washington in the first two rounds.

Duke fell to #19 LSU in the Sweet 16 after Redick went 3-18.

The Blue Devils went 32-4 and was 14-2 in the ACC on the way the to the regular season title. They were second in the nation scoring over 81 points a game.

They finished #1 in the final poll after being ranked no lower than 3^rd all season and spent 15 of the 20 weeks on top of the polls.

2. Adam Morrison: Led the NCAA in scoring at 28.1 points a game.

He was a consensus All-American and player of the year by the US basketball writers.

Morrison was a West Coast (WCC) Player of the Year. He was the WCC tournament MVP for the 2^nd straight year.

The Montana native started his scoring spree with 44 in a 3 OT classic vs. then #12 Michigan St. in the Maui Invitational.

He added 41 vs. Oklahoma State, including a wild game winning shot.

Morrison led the NCAA in FGs and FTs made. He was 5^th in WCC shooting 49.6%.

He added 5.5 rebounds a game, and shot almost 43% from three.

In the first round of the NCAAs, Morrison dropped 35 on Xavier on 11-21 shooting, including four 3s. He had 14-9 in a 10 point win over Indiana in the second round.

He had 24 points on 10-17 shooting in the Sweet 16 vs. #7 UCLA, the eventually national runner up. Gonzaga infamously blew a 17 point lead that led to Morrison’s on-court breakdown.

The Zags went 29-4 and were a #3 seed in the West region. They finished #5 in the final poll and were never ranked out of the top 10 all season. They averaged over 80 points a game. 

        

3. Joakim Noah: Was the Most Outstanding player in the Final Four, while leading Florida to the national championship. He set a title record six blocks and a single tournament record with 29.

 In the tournament, he was named the most outstanding player of the Midwest region.

He averaged 16.5 points, seven rebounds, 6.5 assists and 5.5 blocks a game in the first two games in Jacksonville in the first two rounds of the tournament. Florida pounded South Alabama and UW-Milwaukee.

Noah helped the Gators to their first sweet 16 in six years, after Florida lost on the first weekend in five consecutive tournaments.

In the sweet 16, the Gators got past #23 Georgetown 57-53 behind 15-10 and 5 blocks from their big man.

Noah powered the Florida back to the Final Four past top seed #3 ranked Villanova 75-63 in the regional final. He had 21 points 15 rebounds and five more blocks.

He had 12-8 in the semis win over George Mason.

Florida won their first basketball national championship routing #7 UCLA 73-57. The New York City native had 16 points on 7-9 shooting and nine boards.

During the regular season, he was named first team All-SEC while leading the league shooting 62.7% (3^rd in the NCAA). He was 3^rd in blocks (2.4) and ninth in rebounds per game (7.1).

He scored 14.1 points per game.

Florida won the national championship by defeating five of six opponents by double digits in the tournament. They went 33-6, won their 2^nd straight SEC tournament title, and finished #11 in the final poll.

The Gators started the season 17-0 and rose to #2 in the polls.

2005 NFL

1. Shaun Alexander: Was the MVP of the NFL. He set the NFL record scoring 28 touchdowns, including a record 27 on the ground.

He was Offensive Player of the Year and first team All-Pro. He was offensive player of the week three times.

Alexander had the ninth most yards in a single season after leading the league with 1,880. He also topped the league with 370 carries.

The MVP scored a TD in 14 of 16 games and rushed for over 100 yards in 11 contests (six of those 140+).

In the NFC Championship game, he carried Seattle to its first Super Bowl with 34 carries and 132 yards and a pair of one yard scoring runs. The Seahawks crushed Carolina 34-14.

In Super Bowl XL Alexander ran 20 times for 95 yards (4.75 yards/carry). Seattle fell 21-10 to the Steelers. 

The Seahawks went 13-3 and had the best record in the NFC by two games.

They led the NFL in scoring at 28.2 PPG and was 3^rd in rushing yards.

2. Steve Smith: Became the third player ever to win the receiving Triple Crown. He led the league in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Only Jerry Rice in 1990 and Sterling Sharpe in 1992 have done it.

He finished with 103 catches, for 1,563 yards and 12 TDs.

This season came a year after missing nearly all of the 2004 season with a broken leg.

He was named Comeback Player of the Year. He was named first team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler.

Smith amassed over 130 yards in six games, including 201 in a win over Minnesota.

Including his return yardage, #89 finished 6^th in the NFL in all-purpose yards with 1,940.

In the wild card round, the Panthers’ receiver caught 10 balls for 84 yards. His 22 yard score put Carolina up 7-0. His twelve yard end around put his team up 17-0 in a 23-0 victory of the Giants in New York.

The Panthers became the first team to earn a shutout on the road in the playoffs in 25 years.

 The next round, Smith had his signature game with 12 catches for 218 yards and two scores.

His 218 yards were, at the time, the 4^th most in a post season game.

On 2^nd play from scrimmage Smith 58 yards to the end zone to put Carolina in front. His 3^rd quarter TD extended the Panther lead to 23-14. They would hold on 29-21 to advance to the NFC title game.

He had 5 catches for 33 yards in a 33-14 loss to Seattle. He ran back a punt 57 yards for the Panthers first touchdown.

The Panthers went 11-5 and went to their 2^nd NFC championship game in three years.

3. Peyton Manning: He was first team All-Pro (for the third straight season) and finished 2^nd in the MVP voting.

He was named NFL Man of the Year.

The 29 year old QB led the Colts to a 13-0 start and a 14-2 record. During that streak, Manning had eight straight games with at least two TD passes and a 100+ QB rating.

He was second with 28 touchdown tosses. He also was 6^th in completions (305) and 7^th in yards (3,747), and third in completion % (67.3).

The two time reigning MVP sat out most of the last two games to rest.

Manning led the NFL in passing for a second straight year with a rating of 104.1.

In the divisional round Manning threw for 290 yards, a TD and 2 point conversion. The Colts trailed 21-3 in the fourth quarter until Manning led Indy on two scoring drive to close the gap to 21-18.

The Steelers would upset the Colts on their way to a Super Bowl title.

Indianapolis was 2^nd in the NFL in scoring (27.4 PPG), and 3^rd in yards.