CIAA Players of the Year

The CIAA Men's and Women's Basketball Coaches Associations have selected the honorees of the 2008 All-CIAA Teams and Players of the Year.

This year's Players of the Year hail from the same institution, Elizabeth City State University. Celeste Trahan and Anthony Hilliard will mark the third Player of the Year duo in CIAA history to claim the title in the same year; and a first for ECSU. (Previous years: 1995 Norfolk State and 2005 Bowie State) This also marks Trahan's second year in a row as CIAA Player of the Year.

Both Trahan and Hilliard lead the conference in scoring (23.7ppg/20.1ppg), total rebounding (15.9rpg/11.9rpg) and defensive rebounding (11.1rpg/8.5rpg). Trahan, who broke ground this season as the first NCAA Division II women's basketball student-athlete to score 2,000 career points and 2,000 career rebounds, is also the 2008 CIAA Defensive Player of the Year. Celeste leads the conference in rebounding (15.9rpg), blocked shots (2.13pg), defensive (4.7rpg) and offensive rebounds (11.1rpg).

The 2008 Men's Defensive Player of the Year, Brad Byerson hails from Virginia Union University. Byerson currently ranks second in the conference in rebounding with 8.0rpg and third in blocked shots with a 1.25 avg. Not only is he a dominant defensive player, he shows versatility, ranking third in the conference in scoring, 16.8ppg.

The All-CIAA Teams and Players of the Year will be honored at the Women's and Men's Tip-Off Banquets on February 24th and 26th, respectively, in Charlotte.