Dwyane Wade Named 2002-03 Marquette Basketball MVP

June 2, 2003

MILWAUKEE -- Dwyane Wade (Robbins, Ill.) was the big award winner Monday night as he claimed four individual honors at the Marquette Basketball Awards Banquet held at the Hyatt Hotel. Highlighting Wade's list of honors was being named MVP of the 2002-03 squad by his teammates.

Wade became Marquette's first Associated Press First Team All-American since 1978 after averaging a team-leading 21.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in leading the club to an overall record of 27-6 and the program's first trip to the NCAA Final Four since 1977. One of five finalists for the Wooden Award, Wade was named the Conference USA Player of the Year as he helped the club to a regular-season league mark of 14-2, good first place. Other awards that Wade brought home included the Hank Raymonds Sportsmanship Award, the Bart Miller Standard of Excellence Award (combines the qualities of the ultimate team player -- selflessness, hard work and loyalty, with those of excellence in the class room) and the Deflection King Award.

Senior Robert Jackson (Milwaukee) landed the Chairman of the Boards Award after leading the Golden Eagles in rebounding with a 7.5 per-game average, good for 10th place among C-USA performers. The team leader in rebounding in 15 games, Jackson recorded eight contests of 10 or more rebounds. The 6-foot-10 Jackson hauled in a team-high 110 offensive boards and his 3.33 per-game average ranked him fifth among league performers.

Travis Diener (Fond du Lac, Wis.) received the Most Assists Award after doling out a team-leading 184 this past year with his 5.58 per-game average placing him No. 3 among C-USA players. Diener, a Conference USA Second-Team selection, also was the recipient of the Floor Burn Award.

Scott Merritt (Wauwatosa, Wis.) was tabbed as the squad's Most Improved Player Award winner. The 6-foot-10 Merritt started all 33 Marquette games in 2002-03 and averaged career highs in both points (10.1 ppg) and rebounds (6.6 rpg). Merritt ranked No. 2 on the squad and No. 16 in the league in boards and posted seven contests of double digits in that category.

Steve Novak (Brown Deer, Wis.) earned the Super Sub Award and also landed the Free Throw Proficiency Award. Novak, 6-foot-10, came off the bench in all 33 Golden Eagle contests and brought home Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year honors after leading the league in three-point shooting with a 50.5 percent mark (55-of-109), a school record for a freshman and No. 2 on the school's overall seasonal ladder. Novak earned the Free Throw Proficiency Award on the strength of shooting 93.9 percent (31-of-33) from the charity stripe.

Other players to be recognized included Joe Chapman (Sauk Village, Ill.), who received the Hit The Deck Award and Terry Sanders (Milwaukee) who brought home the Oluoma Nnamaka Consistency Award.

2002-03 MARQUETTE BASKETBALL AWARD WINNERS

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER -- Dwyane Wade

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS -- Robert Jackson

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER -- Scott Merritt

MOST ASSISTS AWARD -- Travis Diener

Bart Miller STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE -- Dwyane Wade

SUPER SUB AWARD -- Steve Novak

HANK RAYMONDS SPORTSMANSHIP -- Dwyane Wade

DEFLECTION KING -- Dwyane Wade

FREE THROW PROFICIENCY -- Steve Novak

FLOOR BURN AWARD -- Travis Diener

Oluoma Nnamaka CONSISTENCY AWARD -- Terry Sanders