SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Southern Conference placed three men's basketball players on the the 2011 Mid-Major Freshman All-America team sponsored by CollegeInsider.com. Davidson's DeMon Brooks, College of Charleston's Trent Wiedeman and Western Carolina's Trey Sumler were all honored.
Wiedeman, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward from Suwanee, Ga., earned SoCon All-Freshman Team honors by the league's coaches and media and led the Cougars in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and double-doubles (4) this past season.
Wiedeman was one of four Cougars to play in all 37 games with 15 starts inside. He also shot a team-best 62.1 percent (110-of-177) from the floor and scored in double figures on 17 occasions. CofC advanced to its fourth all-time NIT appearance and won the SoCon regular-season title with a 14-4 league mark.
Brooks averaged nine points and 5.1 rebounds a game while shooting a team-leading 52.8 percent from the floor in his rookie campaign. He ranked first among SoCon freshman in field goal percentage and third in rebounding.
Brooks scored in double figures in 15 games and led the Wildcats in rebounding 13 times. He posted one double-double, an 11-point, 12-rebound outing at Western Carolina Jan. 8, and went for a career-high 21 points to go along with nine boards in the season finale at Creighton March 21.
A native of Rocky Mount, N.C., Sumler garnered both top rookie honors from both the SoCon head coaches and the media association. He is the second WCU rookie to receive top freshman honors in the past three years as teammate Harouna Mutombo was the Freshman of the Year in 2008-09.
Sumler ranked second on the team in scoring this season, averaging 11.5 points per game to rank second among league rookies. His scoring average jumped to 13.4 points per game - tops among league freshmen - in SoCon games only. He averaged three steals per game in taking over at the point guard position early in the year, starting 21 of the 31 games for the Catamounts.
Sumler scored 20-or-more twice including a career-high 24 points against Davidson, while also stepping to the free throw line to make the game-winning charity toss in the home victory over Chattanooga.
2011 Mid-Major Freshman All-America Team
(Listed alphabetical by last name)
De'mon Brooks, Davidson
Travis Bader, Oakland
Jordan Dykstra, South Dakota State
Jeromie Hill, Texas-San Antonio
Juwan Howard, Jr., Western Michigan
Troy Huff, North Dakota
Anthony Ireland, Loyola Marymount
Lawrence Johnson-Danner, Texas Southern
Frantz Massenat, Drexel
Javon McCrea, Buffalo
Jake Odum, Indiana State
Josh Ritchart, UC Davis
Evan Roquemore, Santa Clara
Steven Roundtree, Oral Roberts
Augustine Rubit, South Alabama
Dartaye Ruffin, Drexel
Devon Saddler, Delaware
Danny Stewart, Rider
Trey Sumler, Western Carolina
Trent Wiedeman, College of Charleston
Trey Zeigler, Central Michigan