March 12, 2002

AP Release

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - On the same day that he collected his third major All-America selection, Maryland's Juan Dixon was named as the Player of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Dixon, named as the player of the year on 41 out of 84 ballots cast by the Atlantic Coast Sportswriters Association, edged Duke's Jason Williams who drew 38 votes.

Dixon also was named a first team All-American by the Associated Press on Tuesday, earning his third major All-America award this season. The conference honor came just one day after Maryland coach Gary Williams was named the ACC's Coach of the Year. It is just the second time in Maryland history (1980) that the Terps have swept both awards.

Dixon leads the 26-4 Terps into this week's NCAA Tournament with a 19.3-point scoring average. He led the ACC with 2.7 steals per game and a 90.8 percent free throw percentage, and became Maryland's first player to earn the ACC's top playing honor since Joe Smith won the award in 1995. He joins Smith, Len Bias (1985, 1986) and Albert King (1980) as the only Terrapins to draw the honor.

For Dixon, the award caps a season during which Maryland won the ACC's regular season crown for the first time since 1980. Dixon has become the winningest player in school history with a 104-31 career record, and has helped guide the Terrapins to their finest regular season in history. Maryland has been ranked among the AP top five in 16 of the last 19 weeks.

"Juan wasn't that heavily recruited coming out of high school and to see his hard work culminate in being named first team All-American and the ACC Player of the Year is a great thrill for me as his coach," said Gary Williams whose coach of the year honor a day before was his first in 24 years of coaching. "I think it says even more about Juan Dixon and what he has done as a basketball player."

Dixon owns the nation's longest active double-digit scoring streak at 48 games, and he enters the NCAA Tournament as the tourney's leading active participant in career points (2,114) and steals (321). Earlier this season, he became the first player in college basketball history to surpass each of three milestones: 2,000 points, 300 steals and 200 3-point field goals. He is ranked 15th on the NCAA career steals chart.

The only Maryland player besides John Lucas ever to earn three consecutive first team All-ACC citations, Dixon needs just 36 points to break Bias' career scoring record (2,149), and 20 points to become the first Terp ever to score 600 points in three straight seasons.

Quotes from Maryland's Juan Dixon follow:

On being named the ACC Player of the Year and an AP first team All-American: "It's a great feeling, especially when your team is winning. It's something I can share with everybody. What's most important is that we keep focused on our games in the tournament, but nobody receives the individual honors unless his team is winning. So I'm glad, and it's a great honor."

On expectations of being named ACC Player of the Year: "I never expected to win it. It was really never my goal, but I'll take it! Really, I'm happy with my accomplishments. There are so many guys out there, and everyone always said it was going to go to Jason Williams. He's a great player, too. But I never had a goal to beat him for the award."

On playing with confidence: "I always think I'm going to win. But I think that most good players think that way. You have to. I have fun when I play. My goal is simple and that's for my team to score more points than the other team. I think I can beat people playing offense sometimes, and sometimes on defense. Whatever it takes, and playing with confidence always helps."

On overcoming perception: "A lot of people have always said that I couldn't do 'this,' or that I couldn't do 'that.' That's fine. Sure that provides me a lot of motivation, sometimes, but I work hard to be the best that I can be, not just to prove that other people are wrong about me."

On beating Jason Williams for the ACC Player of the Year award: "Either one of us could have won it. There are a lot of other great players in this league, too. If Duke would have won the league, maybe he would have won the award. That says even more, though, that it's not just about one guy. The award's in my name, but it belongs just as much with the team."

On the NCAA Tournament: "Ever since we almost lost in the first round last year, we really have been good at just taking things one game at a time. The media always wants to talk about what's next, but we've been really good at focusing on just one game. And that's the way that you win. We want to win the championship, of course,.but we are experienced enough and we've learned that winning each game takes care of that."