After being named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, UConn men’s basketball freshman Daniel Hamilton talked about the honor:
Author Archives: ianbethune
UConn’s Hamilton, Lenehan Feted By American Athletic Conference
HARTFORD, Conn. — UConn freshman Daniel Hamilton (Los Angeles, Calif.) was named the Rookie of the Year and senior Pat Lenehan (Cheshire, Conn.) was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year as the American Athletic Conference announced its top individual awards for men’s basketball at a press luncheon Thursday.
Daniel Hamilton was named 2015 American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year.
Other awards announced today included SMU junior guard Nic Moore as the league’s Player of the Year and Temple coach Fran Dunphy as the Coach of the Year.
Hamilton, a 6-7 swingman, has started every game this season for the Huskies and has filled the box score with his solid all-around play. He is UConn’s leading rebounder at 7.6 per game and led the entire conference in rebounding in league games at 9.1 per game.
Hamilton is also UConn’s second-leading scorer at 10.8 points per game and is second in assists at 3.6 per game. In conference games, those numbers went up to 11.0 points and 4.0 assists per game. He is among the top 20 in scoring, rebounding and assists in the league.
Hamilton, who was an Honorable Mention All-AAC pick, was named the AAC Rookie of the Week four times during the season. He reached double figures in 17 games, led UConn in rebounding in 17 games and recorded five double-doubles, the most on the team. His season-high 25 points against Memphis on Feb. 19 were the most by a UConn freshman since Jerome Dyson in 2006-07 and his 17-rebound performance against East Carolina on Feb. 25 were the most by a UConn freshman since Corny Thompson in 1978-79.
Hamilton joins a list of UConn players who have won the Rookie of the Year Award that includes Earl Kelley (1982-83), Nadav Henefeld (1989-90), Doron Sheffer (1993-94), Khalid El-Amin (1997-98) and Rudy Gay (2004-05), all in the Big East Conference.
Lenehan, a 6-3 guard, is a former walk-on who earned a UConn scholarship this season. He has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA as a molecular and cell biology major and intends to pursue a medical career with a specialty in cancer research. A Rhodes Scholar finalist, he has already been accepted to medical school at Harvard, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Columbia and UConn.
Lenehan has received some of the highest academic honors UConn can bestow, including the Goldwater Scholarship, the Presidential Scholars Award Scholarship, the UTC Academic Scholarship, and he has been recognized as a Babbidge Scholar.
He is the second UConn player to win a conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, joining two-time Big East Scholar-Athlete winner Emeka Okafor (2002-03, 2003-04).
Earlier this week, UConn sophomore Amida Brimah was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, senior Ryan Boatright was a unanimous first team All-ACC pick, Hamilton was a unanimous pick to the All-Rookie Team and Brimah and Hamilton were Honorable Mention all-league selections.
AAC Men’s Basketball Major Awards Announced
From the American:
HARTFORD, Conn. – SMU guard Nic Moore, who led the Mustangs to their first regular-season conference championship since 1993, has been chosen as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year by the league’s 11 head coaches. The announcement was made Thursday by Commissioner Mike Aresco.
UConn guard/forward Daniel Hamilton was chosen by the coaches as The American’s Rookie of the Year, while Temple head coach Fran Dunphy was tabbed as the conference’s Coach of the Year. UConn guard Pat Lenehan accepted the league’s Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award after he was chosen by the league’s Academic Affairs Committee.
Moore, a junior from Winona Lake, Indiana, was named as a unanimous all-conference selection Tuesday and adds The American’s Player of the Year honors to his impressive list of accomplishments. He enters the postseason ranked fourth in the conference in scoring (14.4 points per game), second in assists (5.3 apg) and eighth in steals (1.4 spg). He is the conference leader in both 3-point shooting (.429) and free throw shooting (.875).
Moore, who was a Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy top-50 watch list selection, has averaged 12.6 points and 4.6 assists per game in his career. Beyond his individual statistics, Moore has led SMU, which is ranked No. 20 in the week’s Associated Press poll, to the outright regular-season conference championship in 2015 and the most conference wins in a two-year span (27) in school history.
Hamilton was chosen as The American’s top newcomer after he averaged 10.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the regular season for the Huskies, emerging as one of the conference’s most versatile players. The Preseason American Rookie of the Year lived up to his billing by starting all 30 games and leading the team in rebounding while ranking second in scoring. He enters the postseason ranked second in The American in rebounding and ninth in assists, finishing the regular season as the only player in the conference’s top 10 in both categories.
Dunphy was chosen by his counterparts as The American Coach of the Year after he engineered a remarkable turnaround for the Owls, who finished 22-9 overall and 13-5 in conference play. Temple, which was 9-22 last season, scored a signature win against then-No. 10 Kansas and surpassed the 20-win mark for the seventh time in nine seasons. He enters postseason play with 499 career wins on a ledger that includes 13 conference championships.
Lenehan, a guard from Cheshire, Connecticut, earned a scholarship this season after spending two years as a walk-on. He was chosen as the Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year after he was named a UConn Babbidge Scholar, a University Scholar, the recipient of the Drotch Scholarship in Biology and the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Lenehan, who holds a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average as a molecular and cell biology major, has been accepted to a number of prestigious medical schools, including those at Harvard, Columbia, Duke and Johns Hopkins.
Complete coverage of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship will be available on the conference’s Championship Central page at www.TheAmerican.org/mbb.
2015 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year
Nic Moore, G, SMU
2015 American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, UConn
2015 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year
Fran Dunphy, Temple
2015 American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Pat Lenehan, G, UConn
UConn’s Amida Brimah Named AAC Defensive Player of the Year
From UConn:
HARTFORD, Conn. — UConn sophomore center Amida Brimah (Accra, Ghana), who is ranked among the top three players in the country in blocked shots, has been named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced today.
UConn’s Amida Brimah was named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
The 7-0 sophomore, who was named an All-League Honorable Mention pick on Monday, has started every game this season for the Huskies and has been a defensive force near the rim. His 3.37 blocks per game average ranks third in all of Division I, as does his total of 101 blocks this season. In the 18 AAC games, Brimah has 72 blocks, a 4.0 average, which leads all conference players.
Brimah’s 101 blocks already stands as the ninth-best total for a single season in UConn history and his career total of 193 ties him with Jake Voskuhl for fifth on UConn’s all-time list.
Brimah joins a long line of UConn players who have received Defensive Player of the Year Awards. Emeka Okafor (2002-03, 2003-04) and Hasheem Thabeet (2007-08, 2008-09) were each named twice as the Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year and both were also back-to-back winners of the NABC National Defensive Player of the Year Awards for the same seasons.
Other Huskies named Big East Defensive Player of the Year include Donyell Marshall (1993-94), Josh Boone (20054-05), and Hilton Armstrong (2005-06).
Brimah also leads the Huskies and the entire American Athletic Conference in field goal percentage. His .698 mark would be tops in Division I if he had enough made baskets to qualify and his .699 field goal percentage in conference games leads the league.
Other individual awards announced by the AAC today included SMU’s Markus Kennedy as the Sixth Man Award, his SMY teammate Yanick Moreira as the Most Improved Player, and Memphis forward Shaq Goodwin as the winner of the Sportsmanship Award.
The awards are determined by a vote of the league’s coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own players.
The awards for Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be announced at a press luncheon on Thursday as the American Athletic Conference Championship begins play with three games at the XL Center.
2015 American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Individual Awards
HARTFORD, Conn. – UConn center Amida Brimah, who had an American Athletic Conference-record 101 blocked shots in the regular season, has been chosen as the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s 11 head coaches. The announcement was made Wednesday by Commissioner Mike Aresco.
SMU, which won The American’s regular-season title, had a pair of individual award winners that were announced Wednesday. Mustangs forward Markus Kennedy was the winner of the Sixth Man Award, while center Yanick Moreira was named the conference’s Most Improved Player.
Memphis forward Shaq Goodwin was chosen as the winner of the league’s Sportsmanship Award.
Brimah, the latest in a long line of standout centers for UConn, led the American Athletic Conference in total blocks as a sophomore and was second in the league in blocks per game (3.4). He averaged a league-leading 4.0 blocks per game in conference play and was the anchor of a UConn squad that held opponents to 39.7-percent field goal shooting. Brimah, who was an honorable mention all-conference selection, started all 30 games for the Huskies, averaging 10.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Kennedy earned honors as The American’s Sixth Man after he averaged 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in 20 regular-season games off the bench. He shot 56.3 percent from the field and ranked 11th in the league in scoring in conference games (11.8 ppg). Kennedy was named to the all-conference second team earlier this week.
Moreira, who also earned second-team all-conference honors, was tabbed as the league’s Most Improved Player after he finished the regular season as SMU’s second-leading scorer (11.3 ppg) and the team’s top rebounder (6.4 rpg). He started all 30 games and ranked seventh in The American in rebounding and blocks (1.3 per game). He averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Mustangs last season.
Goodwin averaged 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds for Memphis, but was recognized by the league coaches for his sportsmanship, positive demeanor, commitment to player safety and public support of both his teammates and opponents.
The league’s Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards will be presented at a Thursday luncheon at the XL Center in Hartford.
Complete coverage of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship will be available on the conference’s Championship Central page at www.TheAmerican.org/mbb.
2015 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year
Amida Brimah, C, UConn
2015 American Athletic Conference Sixth Man Award
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU
2015 American Athletic Conference Most Improved Player
Yanick Moreira, C, SMU
2015 American Athletic Conference Sportsmanship Award
Shaq Goodwin, F, Memphis
Video: 2015 UConn Football Spring Practice Different Than 2014
When the UConn Football head coach Bob Diaco ran his first spring practice in 2014, he was a little green as far as what needed to be done.
It’s not that he didn’t know what he was doing since he’d been through many a spring practice as an assistant coach, it’s that he had never been a head coach and responsible for the entire practice. It took some time for the team to get to what Diaco expected but they did it.
So when the UConn Huskies held their first spring practice in 2015 last Saturday., it was a totally different feeling. The players knew what was coming from Diaco as far as what was expected of them and vice versa.
Watch and/or listen below as Diaco talks about the differences.
Boatright, Hamilton and Brimah Honored By The American
From UConn:
PROVIDENCE – UConn senior guard Ryan Boatright (Aurora, Ill.), who led the American Athletic Conference in scoring, was a unanimous selection to the All-AAC First Team, the conference announced today.
In addition, UConn freshman Daniel Hamilton (Los Angeles, Calif.) and sophomore Amida Brimah (Accra, Ghana) were Honorable Mention All-League picks and Hamilton was a unanimous selection to the AAC All-Rookie Team.
The all-league teams are selected by a vote of the league’s coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own players.
Boatright averaged 17.8 points per game in conference games to lead all American Athletic Conference players. He also led the league in free throw percentage (.863) and three-point field goals made (3.0 per game), was second in three-point field goal percentage (.454), and ranked ninth in steals and 12th in assists (3.5).
Overall, Boatright was UConn’s leader in scoring (17.8), assists (4.0), steals (1.4) and minutes played (35.6).He led the Huskies in scoring 18 times, in assists 16 times, steals 15 times, and in rebounding three times. The point guard has 25 double-figure games this season, had 20 or more points in 13 games, and topped the 30-point mark once. Boatright has scored 1,728 career points and handed out 482 assists, which place him ninth in both categories on UConn’s all-time lists.
Hamilton led the conference in rebounding (9.1) and defensive rebounds (7.5) and also ranked in the Top 20 in scoring, assists, free throw percentage and assist/turnover ratio. Overall, the freshman forward was UConn’s second-leading scorer (10.8), leading rebounder (7.6), and second to Boatright in assists (3.6).
Brimah led the American in field goal percentage (.699) and blocked shots (4.0) and was a defensive force around the rim. Overall, he is another double-figure scorer for the Huskies (10.0) and his 3.37 blocks per game average ranks third in the country. He was an AAC All-Rookie Team pick last season.
First Team All-Conference
Ryan Boatright, G, UConn *
Austin Nichols, F, Memphis
Nic Moore, G, SMU *
Will Cummings, G, Temple
James Woodard, G, Tulsa
Second Team All-Conference
Octavius Ellis, F, Cincinnati
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU
Yanick Moreira, C, SMU
Louis Dabney, G, Tulane
Shaquille Harrison, G, Tulsa
Honorable Mention All-Conference:
Troy Caupain, G, Cincinnati
Amida Brimah, C, UConn
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, UConn
Jaylen Bond, F, Temple
All-Rookie Team
Adonys Henriquez, G, UCF
B.J. Taylor, G, UCF
Gary Clark, F, Cincinnati
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, UConn *
B.J. Tyson, G, East Carolina *
* unanimous selection
Two Incoming Huskies Selected to Naismith Trophy’s Girls High School All-America First Team
From UConn:
ATLANTA – Two University of Connecticut commits, Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson, were selected to the Naismith Trophy’s Girls High School All-America First Team, the award committee announced on Tuesday.
Samuelson, who was tabbed as the 2015 WBCA High School Player of the Year on Feb. 26, was named the 2014 California Gatorade Player of the Year and was tabbed as a member of the USA Today All-America first team during her junior season after averaging 26.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.3 steals in 30 games. On the international stage, Samuelson teamed with fellow UConn recruits De’Janae Boykin and Napheesa Collier to win gold (3×3 competition) at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China and also earned a bronze medal at the YOG 3-point shootout.
This season, the 6-3 senior forward is averaging 29.3 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game and 2.4 steals per game.
Collier held Incarnate Word Academy of St. Louis to a 31-1 record and a Missouri Class-4 title by averaging 23.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.2 steals en route to a 2014 Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year nod a season ago. The guard was a member of the 2014 national team that posted a 5-0 record and won the 2014 FIBA Americas U-18 tournament title in Colorado Springs and qualified Team USA for the 2015 FIBA U-19 world championships.
This season, the Red Knights posted a 25-2 overall record en route to a No. 1 rank in the state of Missouri and a 66th
Both players will join the Husky program prior to the start of the 2015-16 season.
American Athletic Conference Announces 2015 All-Conference and All-Rookie Teams
HARTFORD, Conn. – Two unanimous selections were among the five players chosen for the 2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference First Team, as voted by the league’s 11 head coaches. The announcement was made Tuesday by Commissioner Mike Aresco.
UConn senior guard Ryan Boatright joined SMU junior guard Nic Moore as unanimous selections of the head coaches. They were joined on the first team by Memphis forward Austin Nichols, Temple guard Will Cummings and Tulsa guard James Woodard.
One of the five first-team selections will be announced as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Thursday at an awards luncheon at the XL Center in Hartford, prior to the start of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship.
Boatright enters the postseason as the leading scorer in the American Athletic Conference at 17.8 points per game, both overall and in conference play, showing remarkable consistency through the 2014-15 season. Boatright averaged a league-leading 35.6 minutes per game and finished the regular season second in the conference in 3-point percentage (.424) and free throw shooting (.843) and among the league leaders in assists (sixth, 4.0 apg) and steals (seventh, 1.4 spg).
A repeat selection to the first team, Moore was fourth in The American in scoring (14.4 ppg) during a regular season in which he led SMU to its first conference title since 1993. Moore is the conference leader in 3-point percentage (.429) and free throw percentage (.875) and is second in The American in assists (5.3 apg).
Nichols, the 2014 American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, enjoyed a breakout sophomore year for Memphis before an ankle injury sidelined him for three games late in the regular season. He led the Tigers with 13.3 points per game and is the American Athletic Conference leader in blocks at 3.4 per game. Nichols is ninth in The American in both scoring and rebounding entering the postseason.
Cummings is a standout point guard for Temple who helped the Owls improve by 13 wins from last season. He ranks fifth in The American in scoring at 14.1 points per game, and is the league leader in steals at 2.1 per game. Cummings ranks fourth in The American in assists (4.3 apg).
Woodard lived up to his billing as a preseason all-conference pick by his selection to the postseason all-conference team. The Tulsa star averaged 14.9 points per game, good for third in The American, and capped the regular season by draining a conference-record 10 3-point field goals against SMU. Woodard finished the regular season ranked second in the conference in 3-pointers made (2.7 per game).
The American Athletic Conference Second Team included Cincinnati forward Octavius Ellis (10.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg), Tulane guard Louis Dabney (13.7 ppg), Tulsa guard Shaquille Harrison (13.3 ppg) and SMU forward Markus Kennedy (11.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and center Yanick Moreira (11.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg). Kennedy was named to the second team for the second consecutive year.
Honorable mention selections went to Cincinnati guard Troy Caupain (9.4 ppg, 3.6 apg), Temple forward Jaylen Bond (8.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and UConn center Amida Brimah (10.0 ppg, 3.4 bpg) and guard/forward Daniel Hamilton (10.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg).
The conference also announced the five players named to the All-Rookie Team. UConn’s Hamilton and East Carolina guard B.J. Tyson were unanimous choices of the head coaches. They were joined by Cincinnati forward Gary Clark and a pair of UCF players – B.J. Taylor and Adonys Henriquez.
The conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award and Sportsmanship Award – will be announced Wednesday. The league’s Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards will be presented at a Thursday luncheon at the XL Center in Hartford.
Complete coverage of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship will be available on the conference’s Championship Central page at www.TheAmerican.org/mbb.
2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference First Team
Ryan Boatright, G, UConn *
Austin Nichols, F, Memphis
Nic Moore, G, SMU *
Will Cummings, G, Temple
James Woodard, G, Tulsa
2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Second Team
Octavius Ellis, F, Cincinnati
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU
Yanick Moreira, C, SMU
Louis Dabney, G, Tulane
Shaquille Harrison, G, Tulsa
2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Honorable Mention
Troy Caupain, G, Cincinnati
Amida Brimah, C, UConn
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, UConn
Jaylen Bond, F, Temple
2015 American Athletic Conference All-Rookie Team
Adonys Henriquez, G, UCF
B.J. Taylor, G, UCF
Gary Clark, F, Cincinnati
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, UConn *
B.J. Tyson, G, East Carolina *
* unanimous selection
Photos – AAC WBB: UConn Huskies vs South Florida Bulls – 3/9/15
Here is a photo gallery from the 2015 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship game between the UConn women’s basketball team and USF Bulls at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on March 9, 2015. The UConn Huskies won the game 84-70.
To see full size picture or slide show, please click on image
(mobile/tablet users: to scroll through photos, you can swipe left or right; to remove caption, tap photo.)
photo credits: ©2015 Ian Bethune