FSU'S DENNIS SPRINGS CLAIMS ALL-REGION FIRST TEAM ACCOLADES

Senior Guard Chosen As One Of Great Lakes Region's Top Players

Senior guard Dennis Springs (Toledo, Ohio/Scott) of the 2005-06 Ferris State men's basketball team has been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Great Lakes Region All-District First Team in an announcement made today (March 21).

A 2005-06 Daktronics All-Great Lakes Region Second Team pick, Springs joins Dustin Pfeifer of Findlay, Grand Valley State's Callistus Eziukwu and Northern Michigan's Ricky Volcy as first-team all-region representatives from a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC)-member institution. The other first-team selections included Chris Thompson of Southern Indiana along with Sullivan Sykes of Saint Joseph's (Ind.).

Dennis Springs The second-team honorees were Ashland's Justin Brown, Derek Fey of Saint Joseph's, Drury's (Mo.) Collins Harris, Radayl Richardson of Michigan Tech and Jordan Roth of Quincy (Ill.).

The NABC All-District Teams recognize the country's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes, which are selected and voted on by NABC-member coaches.

The 5-6 Springs, who led the league in assists (5.74 apg) this season and ranked as the GLIAC's third-leading scorer (16.8 ppg) this campaign, was honored as a first-team GLIAC North Division selection this year. Springs’ career average of 6.2 assists per game ranks tied for 17th place all-time in NCAA Division II history and is the GLIAC’s top career performance average for all games played. His 713 career assists not only ranks as the school's top figure, but also presently is listed 13th on the all-time NCAA Division II assists leaders list. The two-time (2003-04 & 2004-05) GLIAC North Division Second Team honoree ranked 17th nationally in assists along with 40th in steals (2.2) this season according to the latest (March 19) NCAA-II National Statistical leaders.

Springs, who compiled 28 double-figure scoring outings this season, currently is listed among the school's all-time performers in five statistical categories including ninth in scoring with 1,504 career points. He earned GLIAC North Division Player of the Week Award honors three times this campaign. Springs also received GLIAC North Division All-Defensive Team kudos for the third-straight campaign and picked up GLIAC All-Tournament Team recognition this year as the Bulldogs earned runner-up honors in the conference's annual postseason tournament (March 3-4).

Springs attained NCAA-II Great Lakes Region All-Tournament Team kudos as FSU advanced to the NCAA-II Sweet Sixteen during the 2004-05 campaign. He also set a school single-season record with 213 assists last year and was featured among the top 10 West Michigan collegiate players to watch this season by the Grand Rapids Press.

During his playing career, Springs led Ferris to back-to-back GLIAC North Division Championships (2003-04 & 2004-05), guided FSU to a runner-up league regular-season finish this year and directed the Bulldogs to consecutive NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Tournament appearances the last two campaigns. He was the conference's assists leader three of his four collegiate seasons and dished out 10 or more assists 14 times in his playing career.

Ferris posted an 18-13 overall mark this year en route to making its second consecutive national tournament berth under fourth-year head coach Bill Sall after posting a second-place 13-5 mark in GLIAC North Division regular-season action.

This season marks the second-straight year a Bulldog player has picked up first-team NABC recognition as former standout Carlton Epps was honored following the 2004-05 campaign. It also represents the third time in Sall's tenure a FSU player has received NABC accolades as Adam Anderson was a second-team pick as a senior in the 2002-03 campaign.

The NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary University of Kansas basketball coach. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently claims nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. Associate memberships also are afforded to athletic directors, conference commissioners, faculty members, officials, and high school coaches.