POY’s in Reese’s All-Star Game

(St. Louis, MO) – Players of the Year from the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences are participating in this year’s ‘Reese’s College All-Star Game’. Tuesday, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced the rosters for the annual event and OVC POY Evan Bradds and his MVC counterpart Paris Lee represents the MVC.

Bradds’ awards are too numerous to list, but he was a two-time honorable mention all-american, he’s the  Division 1 era leading scorer for Belmont’s legendary program (1,921), a two-time all-OVC first team member and a two-time academic all-american. In a recent letter to the Belmont fans, Bradds expressed his deep respect for coach Rick Byrd and his gratitude to the fans for their support.

“I want to say thank you, Coach: Thank you for being a great role model, and thank you for giving me the gift of perspective. Thank you for giving me a home here at Belmont. Even though we didn’t get to the NCAA tournament this year, I know that one game can’t take away from what we’ve built here.

And to this university and our fans — there’s not much else I can say other than to tell you how grateful I am. When I first came to Belmont, I was a kid. You helped me to grow up. You helped me find a home away from home. That’s something special. These were the best four years of my life.”

(read Bradds’ entire essay. It’s worth the time!)

Bradds who will play on the East squad, averaged 20 points and 8.4 rebounds per game for the 23-7 OVC champion Bruins.

Lee will compete against Bradds and for the West team. The Illinois State point guard was recently honored as an honorable mention all-american. The ‘Larry Bird, Missouri Valley Player of the Year‘ led the conference in steals and assists, and holds ISU’s all time records for steals (248) and starts (132).

The Redbirds (28-7) shared the regular season championship with Wichita State. The 28 wins were the most in ISU history.

The all-star game will be played 3:35 (Phoenix time) Friday as part of college basketball’s Final Four weekend, and can be seen on CBS Sports Network.

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