March 28, 2011
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard has been named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press. Leonard is the first Aztec to earn AP accolades since Brandon Heath was an honorable mention choice in 2006.
Hailing from Riverside, Calif., Leonard averaged 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds, while adding 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals, in 36 games, all of which he earned the starting nod. The Mountain West Conference first-team selection registered 23 double-doubles, which matched Michael Cage's single-season school record and ranks him fourth in Division I. His 10.6 rebounding average, meanwhile, is the ninth-best clip in America.
Joining Leonard on the second-team is Marcus Morris of Kansas, Derrick Williams of Arizona, Ben Hansbrough of Notre Dame and Jordan Taylor of Wisconsin. The first team consisted of Jimmer Fredette (BYU), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Nolan Smith (Duke), Jared Sullinger (Ohio State) and Kemba Walker (Connecticut).
Leonard is the ninth different Aztec to earn All-America honors in school history and his second-team appointment marks the 13th time a San Diego State student-athlete has been named an All-American. The sophomore is the second player (Heath) to be selected to the All-America squad during Steve Fisher's time at SDSU. The last time San Diego State had a player voted to the AP All-America second-team was in 1984 when Cage made the squad. Overall, this is the fifth time an Aztec has made the AP All-America team and Leonard joins Al Skalecky (1967 honorable mention), Cage (1983 honorable mention, 1984 second team) and Heath (2006 honorable mention) as the only Aztecs to receive AP recognition.
Earlier this month, Leonard was named a second-team All-American by Sporting News and FOXSports.com.
San Diego State is coming off a banner season in which it advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Round of 16 for the first time in school history and picked up the program's first two Division I NCAA victories along the way. The Aztecs finished with a 34-3 record, which established a school record for wins in a single season, and were ranked in the AP Top-25 Poll for all 18 weeks. SDSU, which had never been ranked in school history entering this season, wound up sitting in the top 10 of both major college basketball polls for the final 13 weeks of the campaign. The Aztecs, who shared the MWC regular-season crown and captured the conference tournament title, were ranked as high as No. 4 in both polls and are currently ranked sixth in the Associated Press poll and fifth in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll.