Terps' Morris Named To Preseason All-America First Team
11/10/1999 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 1999
College Park, Md. - Maryland junior Terence Morris, who was selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason Player of the Year, was named to The Associated Press' preseason All-America team that was announced Wednesday. Morris averaged 15.3 points and 7.1 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field as the Terrapins were ranked in the Top 5 for most of last season.
Morris was an All-ACC first-team selection and is the only returning All-ACC first team player for the 1999-2000 season.
He became only the fourth sophomore in school history to earn All-ACC first-team honors and finished fifth in the voting for ACC Player of the Year in 1999. He is among the most versatile players in the ACC and was the only conference player to finish among the league's top 10 in field-goal percentage (third), blocked shots (third), free-throw percentage (fourth), rebounds (eighth), scoring (10th) and steals (10th) during the 1998-99 season. He was an all-tournament team selection at the Puerto Rico Shootout, as he averaged 14.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and shot 70.8 percent from the field (17 of 24). In addition, Morris enters his junior season ranked sixth all-time at Maryland in blocked shots (106) and seventh in field goal shooting percentage (.542).
Chris Porter, the junior college transfer who led Auburn to its highest ranking ever, was the leading vote-getter as the 6-foot-7 forward was listed on 53 of 65 ballots from a 65-member media panel. Porter received seven more than DePaul sophomore swingman Quentin Richardson. Two senior guards from the Big Ten who led their teams to the Final Four last season were next. Scoonie Penn of Ohio State and Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State each received 44 votes.
Junior guard Khalid El-Amin of Connecticut was the next-highest vote-getter with 23 and was followed by junior center Chris Mihm of Texas, 22, junior swingman Michael Redd of Ohio State, 13, senior center Kenyon Martin of Cincinnati, 12, and senior forward Mark Madsen of Stanford, 10.
With Porter averaging 16.0 points, 8.6 rebounds and a highlight-reel dunk per game, Auburn got as high as No. 2 in the rankings during a 29-4 season. He was selected player of the year in the Southeastern Conference and was a second-team All-America.
Richardson was a consensus freshman of the year last season as he led the Blue Devils to an 18-13 record and NIT berth. He averaged 18.9 points and 10.5 rebounds and made a lot of people in Chicago happy when he decided to return for his sophomore season.
Penn was given a lot of credit for taking the Buckeyes from a 1-15 conference record to a 27-9 season and the school's first Final Four appearance since 1968. He averaged 16.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists and was chosen a third-team All-America.
Cleaves was selected to the preseason All-America team last year, and he is the only returning postseason All-America. The start of his senior season will be pushed back at least until mid-December because of a stress fracture in his foot.
With a healthy Cleaves, the Spartans would have probably been a runaway choice for preseason No. 1, but they're still a Big Ten favorite because he will be back for the conference schedule.
Cleaves averaged 11.7 points and 7.2 assists in leading Michigan State to its first Final Four appearance since Magic Johnson led the Spartans to the title in 1979.
