Tucker Earns All-America Honors
March 26, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Wisconsin senior forward Alando Tucker was named a first-team All-American by both the Associated Press and Rivals.com, both organizations announced Monday. Tucker is the first UW player to be named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press. The A.P. has been selecting All-Americans since 1948.
'It's an honor to be recognized as one of the best players in America, especially with all the great talent around the country,' Tucker said. 'This would not have been possible without my teammates and coaches and the tremendous success we achieved as a group this season. It's humbling to know that I'm the first Badger to earn this honor considering all the great players that came before me.'
Tucker, already a first-team All-American by the NABC, USBWA and The Sporting News, is just the third consensus first-team All-American in Wisconsin history. He joins Gene Englund (1941) and John Kotz (1942). Devin Harris was a consensus second-team selection in 2004. Tucker and Illinois ' Dee Brown (2005) are the only Big Ten players to be consensus first-team choices since 2000.
In the A.P. balloting, Tucker received 64 first-team votes and 344 points, second only to Kevin Durant of Texas, who was named on all 72 ballots. Joining Tucker and Durant on the first team were Acie Law of Texas A&M, Arron Afflalo of UCLA and Greg Oden of Ohio State. Tucker, Durant, Law and Oden were also first-team selections by Rivals.com. North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough rounded out the Rivals.com first team.
'This is quite an honor for the school and Alando,' UW head coach Bo Ryan said. 'Alando worked extremely hard over his five years to put himself in position to earn this recognition and he deserves it. Having had a chance to coach for many years, I can say that there is not a finer competitor around.'
Tucker, UW's all-time leading scorer, averaged 19.9 points in leading the Badgers to a school-record 30 wins this season. He also set a school records for career games played and started, minutes played, field goals, free throws, free throw attempts and offensive rebounds.
