Senior J.J. Redick received the Adolph F. Rupp Trophy Wednesday, marking the second time in as many years the Duke guard was selected for the honor.
The Rupp Award is handed out each year to the top player in college basketball by the Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky, and Redick now joins Bill Walton and Ralph Sampson as the only players to be selected multiple times.
The shooting guard is currently second in the nation in scoring and has led the Blue Devils to ACC Tournament and regular season titles as well as Duke's ninth-consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. Despite breaking records and winning awards all season, he has maintained that his team's goals maintain his priority.
"It is not about me," Redick said before the season. "It is about Duke. It is more about the team and what we are trying to accomplish, which is competing for a National Championship."
The announcement comes one day after Redick was named a finalist for the 2006 Naismith Trophy along with Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, Villanova's Allan Ray and Connecticut's Rudy Gay.
In his record-setting senior season, Redick became the Duke and ACC all-time leading scorer and also set the NCAA mark for career three-point field goals.
After struggling with his shot to end the regular season, Redick has rebounded and is hitting 47 percent of his attempts in post-season play.
Redick beat out Utah's Andrew Bogut for the Rupp Award last year after scoring 21.8 points per game and leading Duke to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And with his 27.2 scoring average this season, the senior is on pace to exceed Bob Verga's school-best mark set in 1967 by over a point per game.
"In a league like ours, for him to do what he has done is truly amazing," said head coach Mike Krzyzewski after Redick suprassed Johnny Dawkins to become Duke's all-time scoring leader Feb. 19. "It shows a toughness and a physical conditioning-that combination that is at the highest level."
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