2004 College Basketball

1. Emeka Okafor: Was the MVP the Final Four after leading UConn to the national title.

He was the NABC Player of the Year. He also was the Big East Player of the Year.

Okafor was the national defensive player of the year for the second straight year. 

He led the Big East and was 2^nd in the country with 4.1 blocks per game.

The Huskies center was a consensus All-American.

He was 6^th in the Big East in scoring (17.6)

He led the conference in rebounding (11.5) and field goal % (60%).

Okafor helped the Huskies past #9 Pittsburgh in the Big East final with 11-13 and 4 blocks.

The All-American had 14 games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Despite foul trouble in the first half Okafor powered UConn past #5 Duke in the final four with 18-7 (all 18 in the second half) in just 22 minutes. He led UConn back from down 8 in the final 3:15 to a one point win.

Okafor hit the go ahead put back with under 30 seconds to go.

UConn coasted to its second title in six years 82-73 over #14 Georgia Tech. The Huskies led by 25 with 12 minutes to in the game.  Okafor had 24-15 on 10-17 shooting.

Okafor was the only collegian named to the USA Olympic team and played briefly in two games and earned an bronze medal.

Connecticut went 33-6, 12-4 in the Big East. They won the conference tourney. They were #7 in the final poll after being #1 in 7 weeks.

2. Jameer Nelson: Was named player of the year by nearly every media service including the AP, Sporting News, US Basketball Writers.

He was a consensus All-American and Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.

Nelson was also named A-10 All-Defense team.

The player of the year was 2^nd in the A-10 in scoring (20.6), assists (5.3) and steals (2.8).

He shot 39% from three and 79% from the free throw line.

Jameer opened the season with 20-8-10 performance in a seven point win over #3 Gonzaga.  One of his nineteen 20 point games.

St. Joesph’s went 27-0 in the regular season. They became the first team since UNLV in 1991 to achieve that feat.

During the NCAA tournament Nelson averaged 24.5 points, 5 assists, and 2.8 steals per game.

He had 24 pts, and 7 asts in the Sweet 16 win over #17 Wake Forest, outplaying freshman Chris Paul.

In his last three games of the tournament he played, Nelson played 119 of 120 minutes.

The Hawks fell in the final seconds to #4 Oklahoma St. in the regional final.

St. Joe’s finished #5 in the final poll and earned a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They were 30-2.

3. Ben Gordon: Was the most outstanding player of the West Region of the NCAA tournament. He also was the MVP of the Big East tournament.

His 81 points (27 a game) set a Big East record for the tournament.

Gordon scored a NCAA tournament high 127 points (21.2 PPG).

He played at least 38 minutes in each of Connecticut’s first five tournament games.

He was 1^st team All-Big East and on the All-Final Four team.

The junior guard was 5^th in the Big East in scoring (18.5), and free throw % (82.9). He was 6^th in assists (4.5), while grabbing almost five boards per game.

Gordon led the conference in three point shooting; converting over 43% from beyond the arc.

In the Big East final against #9 Pittsburgh, he had 23-8 to lead the Huskies to the Big East title.

He torched Alabama for 36 in the regional final on 11-19 shooting and 10-11 free throws.

In the Final Four, he scored 18 vs. Duke and 21 in the Final vs. Georgia Tech.

UConn  won its 2^nd national title in six years.