Vols' McRae Chosen To USBWA All-District Team

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - by special report to chattanoogan.com

KNOXVILLE -- The United State Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) has released its 2012-13 Men's All-District Teams Tuesday, based on voting from its national membership of 900-plus. Tennessee junior Jordan McRae landed on the 10-man All-District IV squad.

There are nine regions from coast to coast, and in addition to an All-District Team, a Player and Coach of the Year are selected in each. District IV includes schools in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.

McRae, a wing from Midway, Ga., is Tennessee’s top scorer this season, averaging 16.2 points per game. His production during SEC play soared to 19.2 points per game, which ranked third in the conference.

He has scored 25 or more points in six different games this season, including a pair of 30-point outbursts.

National college basketball experts Jay Bilas (ESPN), Seth Davis (SI.com) and Jimmy Dykes (ESPN) all selected McRae as their SEC Player of the Year. The SEC head coaches voted McRae to their All-SEC first team.

Joining McRae on the USBWA All-District IV Team are Kenny Boynton (Florida), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Georgia), Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), Marshall Henderson (Ole Miss), Joe Jackson (Memphis), Shane Larkin (Miami), Nerlens Noel (Kentucky), Trevor Releford (Alabama) and Russ Smith (Louisville).

Interestingly, Noel was the only frontcourt player included on the District IV squad.

Caldwell-Pope was named the District IV Player of the Year, while Miami’s Jim Larranaga received Coach of the Year honors.

Previous Vols named to the USBWA All-District Team include C.J. Watson (2006), Chris Lofton (2006 POY, 2007 POY, 2008), Tyler Smith (2008, 2009), Wayne Chism (2010) and Scotty Hopson (2011).

The USBWA was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Today, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball.

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)


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