(SID) – The Bearkat’s Ryan Bright, a Deer Park native, has been selected as the Capital One Bank 2007 Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year by the league’s awards committee, Southland officials announced today. Bright is one of 13 student-athletes named to the 2007 Capital One Bank/SLC All-Academic Teams as well.
Six Sam Houston State players have been named to the 13-member 2006 Hibernia Bank Academic All-Southland Conference men’s basketball team.
Bright, Aaron Wade, and Jejuan Plair are first team selections. Ryan Griffin and Shamir McDaniel are second team honorees., Jeremy Thomas has been named as an honorable mention selection.
The announcement of the Academic All-Southland Conference squad marks the second year in a row Sam Houston State has dominated the honor team. Bright, Wade, Griffin, McDaniel, and Thomas are repeat selections as, in 2006, the Bearkats had five of the 10 players on the team.
“This is just a terrific honor for these young men,” Sam Houston State head coach Bob Marlin said. “They’re outstanding individuals and a pleasure to coach. And the great thing is, three of the six — Ryan, Shamir, and Jeremy — return for next season.”
The student-athlete of the year is annually presented to the individual in each conference sport who achieves excellence in academics and athletics. Nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average to go along with superior athletics achievement.
Bright, a junior kinesiology with a 3.57 grade point average, was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection following the 2007 season. He was a three-time SLC Player of the Week for the 21-10 Bearkats that posted a 13-3 record to place second in the West Division of the SLC standings.
Bright ranked in the top ten in the Southland Conference in scoring (14.8 points per game), rebounds (8.1 rpg), field goal percentage and steals (1.7 spg).
He became the 20th Bearkat to score more than 1,000 career points (1,069) and has now scored in double figures 55 times in his career. Bright is a Dean’s List student and a member of the SHSU Student Athlete Advisory Council.
Wade is a senior who has a 3.36 gpa in his business major who averaged 12.1 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Bearkats.
Plair holds a 3.16 gpa in kinesiology and also just completed his senior season. He averaged 10.9 points and 5.5 assists.