University of Memphis Athletics
Banks Named To Basketball Times National All-Freshman Team
Mar 25, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 25, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Memphis' Sean Banks has been named to Basketball Times' (BT) National All-Freshman Team, the publication announced Thursday. Antonio Burks received All-South honors from the monthly basketball magazine.
Wake Forest's Chris Paul, Duke's Luol Deng, Minnesota's Kris Humphries and Iowa State's Curtis Stinson joined on the BT National All-Freshman Team.
Banks has also received several other honors since the postseason began in early March, including ESPN.com's National Freshman of the Year, CollegeInsider.com National All-Freshman Team, Conference USA Freshman of the Year and All-Conference USA first team.
Banks led the Tigers in scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg), and is ranked among the Conference USA statistical leaders in scoring (2nd), rebounding (11th), three-point field goal percentage (12th) and blocked shots (13th). The 6-foot-8 forward led all league freshmen in scoring and rebounding. Banks scored 20 or more points 12 times in 2003-04, including the final six games of the regular season. He scored a career-high 29 points against Charlotte Jan. 17. Banks is the only player in Memphis basketball history to hit at least six three-pointers in a game on four different occasions.
Burks was named to the BT's All-South Team. This is the second honor this week for Burks as he was selected an Associated Press All-America honorable mention Tuesday.
The Memphis, Tenn., native has also been piling up the hardware since the beginning of March. Burks has received several accolades, including Conference USA Player of the Year, ESPN.com Conference USA Player of the Year, All-Conference USA first team, CollegeInsider.com All-America team and National Association of Basketball Coach (NABC) All-District 7 second team. He was also a finalist for the inaugural Bob Cousy Award.
The 6-foot guard finished his career with 1,028 points (11.3 ppg), 487 assists (5.4 apg) and 177 steals (1.9 spg). He is only the fourth player in Tiger history to have 1,000 points, 450 assists and 170 steals. Andre Turner, Elliot Perry and Otis Jackson are the other three Tigers to accomplish that feat. Burks completed his career on the Memphis career charts for scoring (No. 34), assists (No. 6) and steals (No. 5).
Burks was second on the 2003-04 squad in scoring (16.0 ppg) and led the team with 165 assists. He is ranked among C-USA leaders in scoring (8th), assists (2nd), steals (1st), three-point field goal percentage (6th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3rd).
The Tigers finished 2003-04 with a 22-8 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round. Memphis was ranked No. 24 in the final Associated Press (AP) poll, marking the first time the Tigers finished with a national ranking in consecutive seasons since 1985 and 1986. Memphis was ranked No. 19 in the 2003 final AP poll.
