March 4, 2008
Missouri Valley Conference Release in PDF Format 
NORMAL, Ill. - One year after being tabbed the league's Freshman of the Year, sophomore guard Osiris Eldridge chalked up another honor Tuesday, as he was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference First-Team by the league coaches, media and sports information directors. Eldridge, who led the second-seeded Redbirds to their best finish in the Valley standings since the 1997-98 season, received 61 Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year votes, 26 tallies behind Drake's Adam Emmenecker, who earned the league's top individual honor.
Eldridge is the first ISU player to be named to the MVC's first-team since Lorenzo Gordon accomplished the feat following the 2004-05 season. Prior to Gordon, the last Redbird to collect first-team accolades was Tarise Bryson, who accomplished it in both the 1999-2000 season and the 2000-01 campaign, ISU's last postseason appearance.
In addition to Eldridge earning first-team plaudits, senior forward Anthony Slack was named to the honorable mention and all-defensive teams. Senior classmate and former junior college teammate Boo Richardson was also named to the all-defensive squad. Both Slack and Richardson were members of the Valley's All-Newcomer Team last season.
Eldridge enters this week's State Farm MVC Tournament as the league's co-leader in scoring average (16.3 ppg), and has scored a conference-high 490 total points. In conference games, the Chicago native averaged a league-high 17.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game on a 47.2 field goal percentage. The two-time MVC Player of the Week has recorded 25 double-digit scoring outputs, including nine efforts with 20 or more points. Eldridge poured a career-high 34 points at Indiana State (Feb. 16), scored a game-high 30 points against UNC-Wilmington (Nov. 18), and led all scorers with 27 points in ISU's 57-49 win Saturday at Southern Illinois.
"Osiris has had an absolutely fantastic year," said head coach Tim Jankovich. "The great thing about him is that he has turned into a very well-rounded player. Along with his great scoring ability, he is a great rebounder from the guard position, and when challenged, he can be a tremendous defender. Last year, he shot a lot of threes, which he still has had success doing. But now, he has the pull-up jumper, he goes to the basket hard, and sees the floor better than he ever has - Osiris is a great passer. If he continues to work as hard as I think he will, Osiris is just scratching the surface as a player. It is very exciting to think that he is just a sophomore."
Slack, who leads the Valley in field goal percentage (.698), has also enjoyed a dominant defensive senior season. He has a league second-best 42 blocks to go along with 26 steals. The Valley's fourth-leading rebounder (7.4 rpg) has five double-doubles, and has provided 15 total double-digit scoring efforts. He has recorded flawless shooting efforts in seven games, and set career-highs in rebounds (20), assists (5), blocks (4) and minutes played (34) this season.
Richardson has started all 61 games he has played at Illinois State, and is averaging 29.7 minutes per game this season. Often splitting time with senior backcourt mate Dom Johnson to defend the opposing team's most versatile guard, Richardson has helped spearhead ISU's league-leading 33.4 three-point field goal percentage defense. ISU also has a MVC second-best 41.3 percent defensive field goal mark.
"Boo and Slack, along with the rest of this team, have taken it upon themselves to be great leaders," said Jankovich. "I have been particularly impressed with those guys in the loss of their senior teammate (Dom Johnson). Boo's energy is as high as it has been all season, and Anthony has stepped up in huge ways, especially in his rebounding. These guys never seize to amaze me with their willingness to lead and improve."
Along with Emmenecker's Player of the Year honor, Creighton's P'Allen Stinnett collected both the MVC Newcomer and Freshman of the Year accolades. SIU's Bryan Mullins was named the Valley's Defensive Most Valuable Player, while Creighton's Booker Woodfox claimed Sixth-Man of the Year honors. The Most Improved Team captain, along with the league's All-Bench team and the Most-Improved squad, will be announced Thursday.
The Rawlings Coach of the Year honor will be released Friday at the Coach of the Year Reception inside the Renaissance Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis. Also being announced will be the Prairie Farms Scholar Athlete of the Year, along with the three scholar-athlete teams.
