ACC Takes Home AP Honors
Duke All-American Shane Battier and North Carolina coach Matt Doherty were presented with Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards Friday by The Associated Press.
Battier and Doherty gave the Atlantic Coast Conference a sweep of the awards. The last time a conference won both awards was 1979, when coach Bill Hodges and senior forward Larry Bird of Indiana State were honored.
Battier, a senior forward, averaged 19.9 points and 7.2 rebounds this season, leading the top-ranked Blue Devils to the NCAA Final Four. He is the reigning two-time national defensive player of the year and is the first player in ACC history to finish with at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 200 blocks, 200 assists and 200 steals.
"This is a long way from six points and seven rebounds in my freshman year," he said. "I was fortunate to play with a program and a coach that allowed me to be myself."
Battier, the fourth Duke player to win the award named for former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp and started in 1961, received 65 votes in the national media balloting. He was followed by guards Jamaal Tinsley of Iowa State (14), Joseph Forte of North Carolina (10) and Jason Williams of Duke (10).
Battier is the fourth player from the ACC to win the award in the past five years and the fifth in the past seven. Last year's winner was Kenyon Martin of Cincinnati.
The other winners from Duke were Art Heyman in 1963, Christian Laettner in 1992 and Elton Brand in 1999.
Doherty, in his first season at his alma mater after one year at Notre Dame, was the first North Carolina coach to win the award. He led the Tar Heels to a 26-7 record and a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title. They lost to Duke in the conference tournament championship game.
"I can list five, probably 10 coaches off the top of my head who deserve it more," Doherty said of the award. "A coach is only as good as his players. We had fun this year. I wish we were still playing and I could be here with my team now."
North Carolina started its ACC season with 11 straight victories, part of an 18-game winning streak.
Doherty, who played with Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins on North Carolina's national championship team in 1982, received 24 votes in the national media balloting. He was followed by Larry Eustachy of Iowa State (22), Al Skinner of Boston College (21) and Bill Self of Illinois (20).
The last coach to win the award after his first season at a school was Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma in 1995.
The only other coach from the ACC to win the award, which was first presented in 1967, was Norm Sloan of North Carolina State in 1974.
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