Fredette Named MW Male Athlete of the Year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Former BYU basketball player Jimmer Fredette and former Colorado State volleyball player Danielle Minch were announced today as the recipients of the 2010-11 Mountain West Male and Female Athlete of the Year Awards, respectively.

Established by the Mountain West Joint Council in May 2010, the MW Athlete of the Year Awards are bestowed annually to one male and one female student-athlete who have achieved athletic excellence during the past academic year. In addition to superior athletic achievement, criterion for the MW Athlete of the Year Award requires that nominees be in good academic standing throughout their season of competition, and demonstrate good character and conduct on and off the playing field.

Fredette was the nation’s consensus player of the year last season, as he received every major award, including the Wooden, Naismith and Oscar Robertson Trophies. The 2010-11 MW Player of the Year led the NCAA with 28.9 points per game, establishing six new Mountain West single-season records en route to becoming the league’s all-time leading scorer with 2,599 career points.  Fredette also garnered the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and beat out four other players from across the Division I spectrum to earn the College Male Athlete of the Year award at the 2011 ESPYs.  A product of Glens Falls, N.Y., Fredette led the Cougars to a program-record 32 victories, a trip to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Sweet 16 and a final No. 10 Associated Press ranking in 2010-11. Fredette was chosen as the No. 10 overall pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and later traded to the Sacramento Kings.

Minch was named the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame’s 2010 College Female Athlete of the Year after leading the Rams to their eighth MW regular-season title, a 26-5 overall record, and the program’s 16th consecutive NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament appearance.  The Sterling, Colo., native earned MW Player of the Year honors for the second straight season in 2010, leading the league in points per set (4.58) and ranking third in kills per set (3.73) in Conference-only matches. Overall, she was fifth in the Mountain West in kills (3.35) and second in points per set (4.07), while tallying double-digit kills in 22 matches.  She also joined an elite club by eclipsing 1,000 career kills during the 2010 campaign. In addition to earning All-American honors fromVolleyball Magazine and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) last season, Minch was named to the AVCA all-West region team.