Oleson Repeats as GNAC Player of the Year, A. Smith, Bourne Honored
FAIRBANKS, AK-Three members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks men's basketball team have been honored by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Senior guard Brad Oleson (North Pole, AK/North Pole HS/Peninsula College) has been named GNAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row.
Oleson was also named first team All-Conference. Junior forwards Andrew Smith (Anchorage, AK/Bartlett HS) and Justin Bourne (Fairbanks, AK/Lathrop HS) earned honorable mention All-GNAC honors.
The leading scorer in the GNAC, Oleson is UAF's all-time leader with 1829 points, 218 three-point field goals and 207 steals. He is the all-time leader in GNAC in steals; the first GNAC player to have four consecutive 30-point games and the all-time leader with nine GNAC Player of the Week awards. The Most Valuable Player at the James Debeni Classic and the Most Outstanding Player at the Glacier Classic; Oleson ranks fifth nationally in scoring at 24.9 points per game; 24th nationally with 2.5 steals per game; ranks 14th in free throw percentage at 87.2 per cent; ranks 26th in field goal percentage at 60.3 per cent; and ranks 31st in three-point field goals per game at 3.0 per game.
"For Brad to be the Player of the Year two years in a row in what we feel is the best conference in the nation says how special a player he is," said UAF Head Coach Frank Ostanik. "Some coaches go their entire career without getting to coach a player like Brad."
Smith and Bourne also start for UAF. Smith averages 14.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while Bourne averages 6.8 and 5.9. Smith leads the team with 37 blocked shots this year, and his career total of 75 is 16 short of Jason Williams' UAF career record of 91.
"I think that Andrew and Justin deserve more accolades than they receive," said Ostanik. "They do a lot of the things that help us win, and Brad would be the first one to say that a lot of his success is due to his teammates."
UAF plays Cal State San Bernardino Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA West Regional Tournament.
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