Guilford's Ben Strong Named D3hoops.com Men's Basketball National Player of the Year

Greensboro, N.C. (3/17/07) -- Guilford College's Ben Strong was named the 2007 D3hoops.com National Player of the Year Saturday. Selections are made by the Web site's staff and are based on all-region selections made by Division III sports information directors from around the country. The announcement was made prior to the NCAA Division III men's basketball title game in Salem, Va.

Strong is Guilford's first NCAA Division III men's basketball All-American and the Quakers' first student so honored since 1978. He is Guilford's seventh men's basketball student to receive All-America honors in the Quakers' 93 recorded hoops seasons.

A 6-11, 220-pound junior center, Strong averaged 25.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, and ranked among the national leaders in all three categories. He won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) Player of the Year Award and was a five-time ODAC Player of the Week. Strong also ranked among the national field-goal percentage leaders (.585) and made a team-leading 79.7 percent of his free throws. His 737 points rank fourth in school history, tops among Guilford?s NCAA Division III students. He recorded 18 double-doubles this year and scored at least 20 points in 19 games.

Strong scored an NCAA Division III Tournament-record 59 points, including the winning free throw, in Guilford's 129-128 triple-overtime win over Lincoln (Pa.) in the third round of the NCAA playoffs. His 59 points set league and school scoring marks and helped him win the Most Outstanding Player Award at the four-team NCAA sectional tournament. Strong enters his senior season ranked 13th in school history with 1,494 career points in 83 games.

Strong helped coach Tom Palombo's Quakers to their best record (24-5) in over 30 years and their first NCAA Division III playoff appearance. The Quakers won three NCAA games to reach the tournament quarterfinals before falling to eventual national runner-up Virginia Wesleyan, 81-71, March 10. Guilford won a school-record 15 ODAC games and earned the second seed for the league's eight-team tournament, also an all-time high. Strong is one of 13 letter winners due back in 2007.