March 2, 2010
ST. LOUIS -
For the first time since Illinois State joined the Missouri Valley Conference prior to the 1981-82 season the Redbirds had two players named to the Valley's All-Conference First Team when seniors Dinma Odiakosa and Osiris Eldridge received the honor from the league office Tuesday.
In addition to being named all-conference, both Odiakosa and Eldridge were named to the Valley's All-Defensive Team for the second-straight season, with Odiakosa claiming the top honor as the Valley's Defensive Player of the Year. Odiakosa became the first Redbird to win the league's top-defensive honor since Dan Muller won it in back-to-back seasons (1996, 1997). The Redbirds have had two players on the all-defensive team in each of the last three seasons.
Odiakosa was also runner-up to Northern Iowa's Adam Koch in the league's player of the year voting, while Eldridge finished third. Koch finished with 72 votes, while Odiakosa and Eldridge had 59 and 41, respectively.
Illinois State's Jackie Carmichael was also named to the Valley's All-Freshman Team Tuesday. Carmichael averaged 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in his first season with the Redbirds. He also set the school standard by a freshman with 42 blocked shots.
Odiakosa averaged 13.2 points and league-leading 8.8 rebounds per game during the regular season for the Redbirds. He also leads the conference and nation in field goal percentage (62.5) and was the league leader in offensive rebounds per game (3.9). This was Odiakosa's first all-league honor of his career.
For Eldridge, he became the 41st player in Missouri Valley Conference history to be named first-team all-conference three times. The three-time All-Valley first teamer led the league in scoring with 15.9 points per game and he also pulled down four rebounds per contest during the regular-season.
Joining Odiakosa and Eldridge on the first team were Koch, Wichita State's Clevin Hannah and Drake's Josh Young.
In addition to the specialty awards, the conference announced its all-conference units (first-team, second-team and honorable mention), all-newcomer team, all-freshman team, and all-defense team - as selected by the league coaches. The all-bench and most-improved units have been selected by the league's beat writers and will be announced Wednesday.
Illinois State opens the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Friday night when the No. 3-seeded Redbirds face the No. 6 seed Indiana State in the quarterfinals at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, at 8:30 p.m.
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