27/04/2005
New named in All Star team!

Michael New has become the first Leicester player in over a decade to be selected amongst the league's elite by the BBL Coaches. The forward was a runaway winner of the Riders' Player of the Year award and also won the BBL Player of the Month award in February.

New finished tenth in the end of season voting - the first time since Gene Waldron in 1993/94 that a Rider has been in the All Star Team.

New was the only player in the BBL to average over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game when he finished sixth in scoring (20.50ppg) and second in rebounding (10.94rpg).

The Player of the Year award was given to the league's leading scorer Trey Moore of TCS Chester Jets, with Springfield Newcastle Eagles' duo of Jeremy Hyatt and Andrew Sullivan finishing second and third.

In the coaches category - voted for by the basketball media - Fabulous Flournoy edged Paul Smith to the award.

The full list is:

1. Trey Moore - TCS Chester Jets
2. Jeremy Hyatt - Springfield Honda Newcastle Eagles
3. Andrew Sullivan - Springfield Honda Newcastle Eagles
4. Calvin Davis - TCS Chester Jets
5. Terrence Durham - Kularoos Plymouth Raiders
6. Jerry Williams - London Towers
7. Andrew Alleyne - Brighton Bears
8. Sterling Davis - Westfield Sharks Sheffield
9. Rob Yanders - Westfield Sharks Sheffield
10. Michael New - Leicester Riders

C Fabulous Flournoy - Springfield Honda Newcastle Eagles

Whilst it's been over a decade since Riders had a representative, in the early days of BBL it was a common occurrence.

Nowadays the list is given one through ten, but in 1994 it was just given as the winner and nine other qualifiers, of which Waldron was one. He was also selected the season before, with Karl Brown being picked for the Riders in 1991/92.

In 1990/91 Canadian forward Dan Meagher was selected in the team, whilst in 1988/89 Riders has two representatives in Tony Balogun and Jimmy Brandon. In the first season of BBL (1987/88), Clyde Vaughan was picked from the Riders.