College Basketball 1997

1. Tim Duncan: Was the unanimous player of the year (POY) and unanimous first team All-American.

He was the National Defensive POY (NABC) for the third straight year and ACC POY for the second straight year. He was All-ACC tournament for the third straight season.

He averaged 20.8 PPG, 14.7 RPG, 3.29 blocks per game and 60.7% FG percentage, which all led the ACC. He was 4^th in the country in rebounding and ninth in blocks per game.

He was also 2^nd in the ACC with 36.5 minutes per game and ninth with 3.1 asts. per contest.

Against #2 Utah Duncan carried Wake Forest to a 71-59 win with 23 points (9-11 FGs) 18 reb, 8 ast and 3 blks.

The Demon Deacons crushed #4 North Carolina behind 23-18-4 from Duncan.

Wake handled #8 Duke 81-69 and Duncan had 26 points on 9-12 shooting, and 18 boards.

In the NCAA tournament he helped Wake Forest past St. Mary’s with 22-17-5.

In the second round of the tournament #3 seeded WFU was upset by #6 seed Stanford but Duncan finished his career with 20 rebounds, 18 points and three blocks.

Duncan guided Wake Forest to a 24-7 record (11-5 inACC) and to #9 in the final polls. They stayed in the top five of the rankings for the first 16 weeks of 18 total polls.

Duncan’s presence gave his team the #8 scoring defense in the NCAA (58.3 PPG)

2. Miles Simon: Was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1997 Final Four and was on the All-Tournament team.

He scored 30 points in the final against Kentucky. He hit 4-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds of overtime to clinch Arizona’s 84-79 win. He finished 14-17 from the line on the night.

In the semifinal win over #4 UNC, Simon led the way with 25 points, five rebs. and five asts.

He was named the Southeast regional MVP spurred on by three great performances. In the six tournament games, Simon averaged a team high 22 PPG.

In round two against sixteenth-ranked College of Charleston he scored 20 points.

Arizona stunned top ranked and #1 seed Kansas 85-82 in the sweet 16. Simon had 17 (7-12) in the win.

He helped take the Wildcats back to Final Four with 30 points in regional final. He hit on 4-6 threes, grabbed six rebounds and dished four assists in the Cats 96-92 OT victory over Providence.

During the regular season he average 18.4 points and four rebounds and assists per game, while shooting over 40% from three.

He scored over 20 points in 11 of his 23 games, including 30 (along with 10 assists) against then-ranked #21 Tulane.

Arizona became the first (and only) team to beat three #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament (Kentucky, UNC, and Kansas). They finished the season 25-9 and were #15 in the final polls.

They were #3 in the NCAA with 83.9 points per game.

3. Keith Van Horn: Was a consensus first team All-American. He was the WAC Player of the Year for the 3^rd straight season. He finished his career as the WAC’s all time leading scorer.

He averaged 22 PPG (2^nd in the WAC) and his 704 total points were 1^st in the WAC and 4^th in the NCAA. He led his conference by shooting 90.4% on free throws.

He also averaged 9.5 rebounds per game and shot nearly 39% on threes.

He was the WAC tournament MVP. He hit game winners on consecutive nights. First vs. SMU in the quarters, and then against #11 New Mexico in semis. He had 37 points (5-8 on threes) and 15 rebs. in the final, a 21 point win over TCU.

In the NCAA tournament he averaged 20.8 PPG and 10.3 RPG.

He had 27-8 in round two against Charlotte. In the sweet 16 he put up 25 and 14 to power Utah past #21 Stanford in overtime. He had 15 points and eight boards in a loss to #5 and national runner-up Kentucky in elite eight.

Utah finished the season 29-4, 15-1 in the WAC and #2 in the final polls. They were WAC regular season and tournament champions. They were ranked in the top 10 in polls all season long.