Dec. 5, 2002
SAN DIEGO - The NCAA announced Thursday that the initial eligibility request for Evan Burns, a 6-8, 220-pound freshman on the San Diego State basketball team, has been approved. Burns, whose request was granted by the NCAA's Initial Eligibility-Waiver Committee, is immediately eligible to play.
Burns, a McDonald's All-American while at Fairfax High in Los Angeles, is now considered a qualifier. In addition to being able to participate in competition, he can now receive a full scholarship.
"We are excited for Evan Burns and San Diego State basketball," head coach Steve Fisher said. "He has an early Christmas present and now we need to help him grow as a college student and college basketball player."
Said Burns: "It has been a long wait but I am excited to realize my dream of playing college basketball. I look forward to contributing to the team."
Burns, an athletic scorer, participated in two national prep all-star games. He played in the April 11 Jordan Capital Classic in Washington D.C. and was a starter on the West squad at the April 4 McDonald's High School All-American game in New York City. Five major recruiting publications rank him among the top 20 prospects in the country.
As a senior this past season, Burns averaged 22.7 points and 10.5 rebounds for coach Harvey Kitani while leading Fairfax to the Los Angeles City finals. In addition to earning prep All-American honors, he was a third-team Parade All-America selection, all-state selection, Los Angeles Times Central City Player of the Year and was nominated for California Mr. Basketball. Entering his senior campaign, Burns was named a third-team All-American and first-team Los Angeles All-Metro by Street & Smith's, the number three small forward in the nation by Athlon, the no. 10-ranked player in the country by Basketball News, the no. 11-ranked player nationally by Hoop Scoop, the 12th-ranked player nationally by Lindy's, the 13th-ranked player by theInsider.com, the 14th-rated player by The Sporting News and the 17th-rated top prospect by All-Star Report.
As a junior in 2000-01, Burns averaged 23.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.1 blocked shots a game.