2009 Team Awards For Ben Ball Warriors

Should have passed this info earlier. Some of you might have already checked out PAA's remarks at UCLA basketball's 2009 banquet. In addition to that for a little while a video of Pauley renovation plans was up on youtube before it was taken down at the request of UCLA athletic department folks (the video was only intended for folks who paid for the banquet which kind of makes sense). Don't worry the video will available in few months when UCLA folks make a "public push" per Dohn.

More importantly though wanted to make sure we noted the Ben Ball warriors who were honored at the awards. From UCLA's official site:

UCLA senior guards Darren Collison and Josh Shipp were each given the Coach John Wooden Award as the Bruins' Co-Most Valuable Players Monday night at the 2009 UCLA Men's Basketball Awards Banquet held at the Beverly Hilton.

Shipp, a second team All-Pac-10 selection, led the Bruins in scoring at 14.5 points per game, ranking 10th in the league. Collison a first team All-Pac-10 selection, was second on the team in scoring at 14.4 points per game, which ranked 14th in the conference.

During the evening's festivities, Collison was also awarded two other awards. He earned the Bob "Ace" Calkins Memorial Award (free throw champion) for the third straight year by shooting 89.7 percent (113-for-126) from the charity stripe. That percentage led the Pac-10 Conference, ranked fourth nationally and was fourth all-time on UCLA's single season charts. Collison ended his career in third on UCLA's career charts in free throw percentage at .851 (349-for-410). Additionally, he earned the UCLA Alumni Association Award (team assist leader), averaging 4.7 assists per game (166), which ranked fourth in the Pac-10 Conference. He ended his career ranked fifth on UCLA's career charts in assists (577, 4.1 apg).

Senior center Alfred Aboya was given the Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake Memorial Award for Competitive Spirit, Inspiration and Unselfish Contributions for the third straight year. Aboya, an All-Pac-10 Conference honorable mention selection, averaged 9.9 points per game.

Aboya was also a three-time award winner, receiving the Gerald A. Finerman Award (team rebounding leader), averaging 6.3 rebounds per game, which was ninth in the Pac-10 Conference. He also garnered the Irv Pohlmeyer Memorial Award (Outstanding Defensive Player). Aboya was also named to the Pac-10 All-Defensive Team and to the national All-Defensive Team by FoxSports.com.

You can read about rest of the awards here.

It is going to be weird getting used to UCLA basketball w/o DC, JS, and PAA. I know. I am excited about the new beginning next year. Still I am going to miss those guys.

GO BRUINS.