Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Jamaal Tatum named Missouri Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year
02/27/2007 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2007
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - In what is believed to be the closest vote in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference, senior Jamaal Tatum was named the 2007 Larry Bird Missouri Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year.
A total of five points separated the top three vote getters, which were Tatum (70 points), Creighton's Nate Funk (67 points) and SIU's Randal Falker (65 points).
Tatum is the Salukis' leading scorer at 14.5 ppg and has helped the team to its highest-ever national ranking, a regular-season Missouri Valley Conference title and the No. 1 seed in this week's State Farm MVC Tournament.
The senior guard enters this week's action with 1,557 career points, which ranks No. 7 all-time in SIU history. Tatum has helped the No. 11-ranked Salukis to a 25-5 overall mark and 15-3 conference record as SIU earned the tournament's top seed for the fifth time in the past six years. SIU enters the tournament with an 11-game winning streak and an RPI of four.
Tatum is the fifth Saluki player to win the player-of-the-year award in the school's 32-year affiliation with the MVC. The others were Mike Glenn (1976), Ashraf Amaya (1992), Chris Carr (1995) and Darren Brooks (2004, 2005).
In addition to Tatum, Funk and Falker, the other two first-team all-conference members were Missouri State's Blake Ahearn and Creighton's Anthony Tolliver.
Falker, who leads the conference in blocked shots, was named the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year. He is the sixth player in school history to win the award. The others were Ashraf Amaya (1992, 1993), Marcus Timmons (1995), Monte Jenkins (1999), Rolan Roberts (2002) and Darren Brooks (2004, 2005). Falker was joined on the all-defensive team by teammates Tony Young and Bryan Mullins, plus Wichita State's PJ Couisnard and Bradley's Daniel Ruffin.
2007 All-Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Team
First Team
Blake Ahearn, Missouri State
Randal Falker, Southern Illinois
Nate Funk, Creighton
Jamaal Tatum, Southern Illinois
Anthony Tolliver, Creighton
Second Team
Eric Coleman, Northern Iowa
Will Franklin, Bradley
Daniel Ruffin, Bradley
Grant Stout, Northern Iowa
Matt Webster, Evansville
Honorable Mention
Ajay Calvin, Drake
Tyler Chaney, Missouri State
PJ Couisnard, Wichita State
Levi Dyer, Illinois State
Kyle Wilson, Wichita State
All-Newcomer Team
Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State
Spencer Laurie, Missouri State
Boo Richardson, Illinois State
Anthony Slack, Illinois State
Josh Young, Drake
All-Freshman Team
Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State
Cole Holstrom, Indiana State
Isacc Miles, Creighton
Marico Stinson, Indiana State
Josh Young, Drake
All-Defensive Team (selected by Coaches)
PJ Couisnard, Wichita State
Randal Falker, Southern Illinois
Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois
Daniel Ruffin, Bradley
Tony Young, Southern Illinois
All-Bench Team (selected by beat writers)
TBA (Feb. 28)
Most-Improved team (selected by beat writers)
TBA (Feb. 28)
Player of the Year Voting
Jamaal Tatum (70)
Nate Funk (67)
Randal Falker (65)
Blake Ahearn (16)
Anthony Tolliver (11)
Matt Webster (3)
Will Franklin (2)
Daniel Ruffin (2)
Grant Stout (2)
Ajay Calvin (1)
Tony Young (1)
Newcomer of the Year: Spencer Laurie
Freshman of the Year: Osiris Eldridge
Defensive MVP: Randal Falker
Sixth Man of the Year: Deven Mitchell
