April 1, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second straight consecutive year, Irish junior Luke Harangody (Schererville, Ind.) was named to the John R. Wooden All-America Team. He becomes the first two-time honoree following Troy Murphy who was a member of the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 squad.
Joining Harangody on the 11-member squad were DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh), Stephen Curry (Davidson), Blake Griffin (Oklahoma), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina), James Harden (Arizona State), Gerald Henderson (Duke), Ty Lawson (North Carolina), Hasheem Thabeet (Connecticut), Terrence Williams (Louisville) and Sam Young (Pittsburgh). Harangody, a two-time Associated Press Second team All-American became the first player in BIG EAST Conference history in 2008-09 to lead the league in scoring in back-to-back seasons and is the only player nationally this season to rank in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding.
In leading the Irish to a 21-15 overall record and semifinal appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, he averaged 23.3 points and 11.8 rebounds. In conference play, he netted 25.2 points and 12.8 rebounds. Harangody set a Notre Dame single-season record this season with 25 double-doubles and ranks fourth with 50 career double-doubles all-time. Earlier this season, he became just the seventh player in the 104-year history of the Notre Dame basketball program to score 1,500 points and grab 800 rebounds. He currently has 1,823 points and 949 rebounds in three seasons in an Irish uniform.
Harangody has reached the 30-point plateau on six occasions during the ’08-’09 campaign. His high-water mark was a 32-point effort against Louisville. He has grabbed 15 or more rebounds 10 times during the season, including a season-best 17 boards on three occasions.
In addition to the accolades from the Associated Press, Harangody has recently earned second team All-America honors from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), third-team All-America honors from Sporting News and was a fourth-team selection according to Jeff Goodman with FOXSports.com. Last season, Harangody was a second team NCAA Consensus All-American.
In his three-year BIG EAST career, the 2008 BIG EAST Player of the Year has scored 1,031 points (19.9 ppg) in 52 league contests. Only three other players in BIG EAST history – Ray Allen (Connecticut), Richard Hamilton (Connecticut) and Pat Garrity (Notre Dame) – have scored more than 1,000 points in three seasons.
A panel of more than 1,000 voters, comprised of sports media members and college basketball experts from around the nation, had until Monday to cast their votes, a long voting period that allowed voters to evaluate players up through games of the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Voters selected 10 players from the 24 student athletes listed on the ballot, and ranked them from 1 to 10. Wooden Award Voters were asked to take into account performance during the regular season and postseason through games last Sunday, as well as a player’s character and academic performance, essential components of an outstanding player in the eyes of Coach John Wooden.