March 6, 2000
PROVIDENCE – Univeristy of Notre Dame forward Troy Murphy was a unanimous selection for the 1999-2000 all-BIG EAST first team as announced by the conference on Monday morning. Joining Murphy as a unanimous pick for first team was forward Etan Thomas of Syracuse whihe the other members of the team are Connecticut guard Khalid El-Amin, St. John’s guard Erick Barkley and Syracuse guard Jason Hart.
Murphy becomes the second Notre Dame player to earn all-BIG EAST first team honors as Pat Garrity was named in 1997 and ’98. Murphy was a second team pick last year and Garrity was a third team pick in 1996.
The All-BIG EAST First, Second and Third Teams, along with the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team, are selected by the league’s head coaches, who may not vote for their own players.
Notre Dame opens play in the first round of the 2000 BIG EAST Championship at Madison Square Garden in New York City as the No. 7 seed on Wednesday against No. 10 seed Rutgers at 7:30 p.m. EST. That game will be televised nationally by espn2. The winner of that game faces No. 2 seed Miami in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. on espn2. The Irish enter the tournament with an overall mark of 17-13 and finished the year at 8-8 in the BIG EAST.
Murphy is the first player in league history to win the BIG EAST scoring and rebounding crowns in the same season. In conference games, he averaged 21.7 points and 10.3 rebounds. He edged Thomas by one carom for the rebounding title. Murphy’s overall averages of 23.0 points and 10.5 rebounds also are tops in the conference. Last season, the native of Morristown, N.J. was the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year.
Thomas, a 6-9 senior from Tulsa, Okla., averaged 13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and a league-leading 3.9 blocks overall, while helping Syracuse secure a share of the BIG EAST regular season title with a 13-3 record. Overall, the Orangemen are 24-4. One of the best shot blockers in league history, Thomas has blocked 232 shots in conference games, second on the all-time blocks list to Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing (1981-85) who had 247. Thomas was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection last season and the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year.
Barkley is the Red Storm’s sophomore point guard who led the team in scoring with a 16.7 average. He also posted a 4.5 assist mark. A native of Queens, N.Y., Barkley claimed the BIG EAST steals title with a 3.6 average in league games.
El-Amin averaged 16.4 points, 5.5 assists and 1.8 steals for the Huskies who finished the regular season with a 21-8 record. In league games, the 5-10 junior from Minneapolis, Minn. was first in the BIG EAST in free throw shooting, connecting at a .934 clip.
Hart is a 6-3 senior who averaged 12.0 points and 6.4 assists. In his BIG EAST career, the native of Los Angeles finished third in steals with 168 and fourth in assists with 389.
Troy Bell of Boston College and Darius Lane of Seton Hall were unanimous selections for the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team. Bell averaged 18.8 points overall and set a league scoring record for freshmen, averaging 20.1 points in conference games. Lane led the Pirates in overall scoring with a 15.4 average and made a league-high 79 three-point baskets. Both are Minnesota natives. Bell is from Minneapolis and Lane is from Fridley.
1999-2000 ALL-BIG EAST Teams
All-BIG EAST First Team
*Troy Murphy, Notre Dame, So., 6-9, 225, Morristown, N.J.
*Etan Thomas, Syracuse, Sr., 6-9, 247, Tulsa, Okla.
Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut, Jr., 5-10, 203, Minneapolis, Minn.
Erick Barkley, St. John’s, So., 6-1, 185, Queens, N.Y.
Jason Hart, Syracuse, Sr., 6-3, 177, Los Angeles, Calif.
All-BIG EAST Second Team
Johnny Hemsley, Miami, 6-5, 195, Baltimore, Md.
Ricardo Greer, Pittsburgh, Jr., 6-5, 225, New York, N.Y.
Lavor Postell, St. John’s, Sr., 6-6, 212 Albany, Ga.
Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall, Sr., 5-10, 174, Queens, N.Y.
Malik Allen, Villanova, Sr., 6-10, 245, Medford, N.J.
All-BIG EAST Third Team
Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, Georgetown, Jr., 6-11, 255, Yaounde, Cameroon
Mario Bland, Miami, Sr., 6-6, 265, Jackson, Miss.
Bootsy Thornton, St. John’s, Sr., 6-4, 195, Baltimore, Md.
Ryan Blackwell, Syracuse, Sr., 6-8, 227, Pittsford, N.Y.
Marcus Goree, West Virginia, Sr., 6-8, 230, Dallas, Texas
BIG EAST All-Rookie Team
*Troy Bell, Boston College, Fr., 6-1, 169, Minneapolis, Minn.
*Darius Lane, Seton Hall, So., 6-4, 215, Fridley, Minn.
Anthony Glover, St. John’s, So., 6-6, 225, Bronx, N.Y.
Samuel Dalembert, Seton Hall, Fr., 6-11, 230, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
Gary Buchanan, Villanova, Fr., 6-3, 200, St. Louis, Mo.
*denotes unanimous selection