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BYU-Hawaii’s Whippy & Chang, Chaminade's Bennett claim NCAA II West Region Awards
PHOENIX, AZ – When BYU-Hawaii
junior guard Jet Chang (Yilan, Taiwan/Sing
Rong) and senior guard Marques Whippy
(Bua, Fiji/Woods Cross, UT) land in Springfield, MA,
for the start of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, the duffle bags
of the two veteran Seasiders will be much, much heavier.
On March 9, both players were selected to the 2011 Daktronics, Inc. NCAA Division II West Region Men’s Basketball All-Star Second Team, while on March 15 the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) selected Whippy to the NABC Division II West Region First Team and picked Chang for the Second Team.
Players on the Daktronics, Inc. NCAA Division II West Region All-Star Team are nominated by the sports information directors from their respective schools and voted upon by the SIDs in the West Region. Players making the First Team are eligible for the national All-America squad.
The NABC All-District teams are nominated by and voted on by member
coaches of the NABC. The 88 student-athletes representing the eight
districts are now eligible for the State Farm® Coaches’
Division II All-America Teams selected by the NABC.
In addition to Whippy and Chang, Chaminade senior guard Steven Bennett (Los Angeles, CA/Dorsey) also earned NABC Division II West Region First Team honors.
Bennett, who finished the season averaging 15.2 points per game, is presently ranked fifth in the PacWest in scoring. He also is 12th in free throw shooting at 73.5% (119 for 162), while he stands fifth in steals per game (1.2). He helped lead the Silverswords to a terrific 2010-11 campaign, including a berth in the NCAA Division II West Region Tournament.
Chang, who will take his PacWest-leading points-per-game average into the NCAA Division II National Quarterfinals vs. Bloomfield (NJ) on March 23, tops the conference with his 19.9 points per outing. He also is ranked seventh in steals per game (1.1) and ranks sixth in three-pointers made per contest (1.6).
Whippy is among the PacWest leaders in multiple categories. He is ranked sixth in the conference in scoring (14.7 points per game) and leads the league in rebounding (11.8 per game).
Whippy is shooting 53.0% (166 for 313) from the floor to rank fourth in the league in field goal percentage, while he is fifth in assists per game (3.5), first in steals per game (3.0), and fourth in blocked shots per contest (1.3).
The national All-America teams for Daktronics and the NABC will announced in mid-March.
