Papa Dia earns third C-USA honor of season

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Papa Dia Repeats As C-USA Player Of The Week
Dia Earns Third Honor Of The Season Following Record Performance In Saturday's Win

Jan. 24, 2011

SMU senior Papa Dia was named C-USA Co-Player of the Week by voting from a media panel covering the 12 conference schools. Dia repeats as Player of the Week, as he averaged 19.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks. Dia shared the award with Jontae Sherrod of East Carolina.

Dia averaged 19.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in games against UAB and Southern Miss to repeat as C-USA Player of the Week. Dia tallied 23 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and was 10-of-10 on field goals in the 79-65 win over Southern Miss Saturday. He became just the second player in C-USA history to record 10 made field goals without a miss. In the second half, Dia went 7-of-7 from the floor to total 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks as SMU pulled away. SMU shot 69.8 percent from the floor against the Golden Eagles, a performance that ranks second in SMU history and second by any C-USA team in a conference game. At UAB on Wednesday, Dia had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks as he tallied his fourth straight double-double. This is his third C-USA Player of the Week honor this season and for his career.

On the season, Dia is fifth in C-USA in scoring (17., fourth in rebounds (8., and third in blocks (1.9). He also has eight double-doubles and leads C-USA in field goal percentage at 59.6 percent. In C-USA games, Dia has upped his averages to 20.8 points (2nd), 10.0 rebounds (2nd) and 3.2 blocks (T-1st).

2010-11 C-USA Players of the Week
Nov. 15: Maurice McNeil, Houston
Nov. 22: Papa Dia, SMU
Nov. 29: Ovie Soko, UAB
Dec. 6: Cameron Moore, UAB
Dec. 13: Gary Flowers, Southern Miss
Dec. 20: Keith Clanton, UCF
Dec. 27: Arsalan Kazemi, Rice
Jan. 3: Arsalan Kazemi, Rice
Jan. 3: Kendall Timmons, Tulane
Jan. 10: Randy Culpepper, UTEP
Jan. 17: Papa Dia, SMU
Jan. 24: Jontae Sherrod, East Carolina
Jan. 24: Papa Dia, SMU

[pwnyxpress]

Good job! This is your year--make it count!

[indianmustang]

let papa keep it for rest of the year

[Scoops]

If he's not careful, he's going to end up getting named first-team All-Conference USA and could work his way into the Player of the Year discussions.

[shadowman]

If he's not careful, he's going to end up getting named first-team All-Conference USA and could work his way into the Player of the Year discussions.

I would hope, barring injury or total collapse, he is a lock for 1st team All-Conference, he was on the first team in the official pre season C-USA writer's poll, and I think he has justified that with his play.

Now, the question will become how much interest will he get as player of the year, he definitely should be in the discussions and Doherty has been lobbying for him. Just in last post game interview, he kept talking how Papa was the best player in the league.

Congrats!

[Junior]

Great to see him playing so well on a consistent basis.

[Mustangsabu]

Really thrilled for Papa! This is great and I really hope that he sees lots of the ball in the remaining games.

One of my favorite sights this season was when Papa took the mop to clean up the sweat himself when the little kid tasked with the job proved too small to move it himself. It was great!

[shadowman]

Really thrilled for Papa! This is great and I really hope that he sees lots of the ball in the remaining games.

One of my favorite sights this season was when Papa took the mop to clean up the sweat himself when the little kid tasked with the job proved too small to move it himself. It was great!

Heh, that was funny.

Seriously though, SMU should get kids down there that are at least out of diapers. Better suited for a teenager. Those young kids have no idea what they are doing and someone could get hurt, it is a job that should not be taken lightly. I know they like to reward booster's kids with this job, but it needs a bit more attention.