The University of Akron Athletics
Travis Named MAC Player of the Year
March 06 | Men's Basketball
CLEVELAND - University of Akron senior forward Romeo Travis was named Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, the league office announced on Tuesday in its second round of post-season awards announcements. The awards were voted on by a 50-member panel of MAC News Media Association (MNMA) members.
Travis led the Zips to their first MAC East Division title since 1998 and helped them achieve a No. 2 seed in the FirstEnergy MAC Men's Basketball Tournament - the program's highest seed ever in the event. His selection marks the first time in league history that a player from Akron has won the award.
The Akron, Ohio native (St. Vincent-St. Mary HS) leads the Zips in scoring this season (15.1 ppg/sixth in MAC), and ranks ninth on UA's career scoring chart with 1,451 points (119 games). He is also the program's all-time blocked shots leader, with 158 (team-high 58 blocks/2.0 bpg this season/second in MAC), while his 767 career rebounds is ninth best in school history. His 6.0 rebounds-per-game is second best on the squad and ranks 10th in the league this season.
Travis has scored in double figures in 25 games in 2006-07 (six
straight and in 21 of the last 23), and has hit that double-digit
mark 79 times in 119 career games. He was also named to the NABC
All-District 10 Second Team for the second consecutive year last
week.
"This is a great honor" Travis said. "I want to thank God, my
family, my coaches and teammates, the fans and the media. Without
all of them none of this would be possible."
"No one deserves this honor more than Romeo" Akron head coach
Keith Dambrot said. "He's
been with me for a long time and he's part of our Akron family.
He's a winning guy and has put his mark on this program. There's no
way we could have accomplished all that we have over the last three
seasons without him."
Travis edged Toledo's Justin Ingram by four votes in the player-of-the-year race. Central Michigan's Giordan Watson followed in the voting for the top player in the conference, while Ohio's Jerome Tillman, Miami's Tim Pollitz and Western Michigan's Joe Reitz also received consideration.
Western Michigan's David Kool was the MNMA's unanimous choice for MAC Freshman of the Year, also announced on Tuesday.
On Wednesday the All-MAC and All-Freshman teams will be released
along with the Sixth Man of the Year Award and Defensive Player of
the Year Award. On Monday Toledo's Stan Joplin was named MAC Coach
of the Year, edging Dambrot in the balloting.
