Larry Brown, Nic Moore Earn USBWA District Honors

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Head Coach Larry Brown And Sophomore Nic Moore Earn USBWA District Honors
Brown Named Coach Of The Year; Moore All-District Team Selection

March 11, 2014

Dallas (SMU) – Head coach Larry Brown and sophomore Nic Moore of the No. 25/23 SMU basketball team have been honored by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the organization announced on Tuesday. Brown was named the District VII Coach of the Year, while Moore was an all-district team selection.

Brown, who was recently named a finalist for the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year award, is in his second season on the Hilltop and has led the Mustangs to a 23-8 record and a No. 3 seed in the inaugural American Athletic Conference Tournament. In his second season, Brown’s Mustangs have posted the top NCAA RPI turnaround from 2012-13 (213) to 2013-14 (45) improving their mark 168 spots. The Ponies also have an eight-game improvement in the win column from a season ago.

The Mustangs have reached the 20-win mark for the 10th time in program history and have 23 wins for the first time since the 1987-88 season. The team has garnered its first ranking since the 1984-85 season and has four wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 1955-56. A total of 12 conference wins highlight the Ponies’ record for the first time since the 1992-93 Southwest Conference season.

Moore, a 2013-14 All-American Athletic Conference First-Team selection, leads the Mustangs in scoring (13.9) and assists (4.7) this season. The Winona Lake, Ind., native is an eight-time selection to The American’s weekly honor roll and has started all 31 games this season.

SMU enters the conference tournament with its highest seed since the 2002-03 season and faces sixth-seeded Houston on Thursday at 12 p.m. CT at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The Mustangs swept the season series with the Cougars.

DISTRICT VII (TX, AR, LA)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Larry Brown, SMU

ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Jaye Crockett, Texas Tech
Jonathan Holmes, Texas
Cory Jefferson, Baylor
Shawn Long, Louisiana
Aaric Murray, Texas Southern
Nic Moore, SMU
Johnny O'Bryant, LSU
Jacob Parker, Stephen F. Austin
Bobby Portis, Arkansas
Cameron Ridley, Texas

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cory Jefferson, Baylor