March 11, 2008

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - University of Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts has been named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District 4 Player of the Year, the organization announced Tuesday. Derrick Rose joined Douglas-Roberts on the USBWA All-District 4 squad.

Memphis was one of two schools in District 4 - that includes the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia - to place two players on the squad. Tennessee was the other school to do so.

Douglas-Roberts, a 2007-08 All-Conference USA first team pick, leads Memphis in scoring (17.3 ppg) and three-point field goal percentage (44.2), and is ranked among the conference leaders in scoring (6th), field goal percentage (7th) and three-point field goal percentage (2nd). The Detroit, Mich., native also is in the running for three National Player of the Year awards - Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Oscar Robertson Trophy. He was selected to the NABC All-District 7 first team in early March.

The 6-foot-7 guard became the 43rd Tiger in the program's history to score 1,000 points in a career earlier this year, and is in the No. 13 spot on the Memphis all-time scoring list with 1,358 points. He was named Conference USA Player of the Week three times in 2007-08.

Rose, the 2007-08 Conference USA Freshman of the Year, was also named to the All-C-USA first team. The Chicago, Ill., native is the third freshman in the John Calipari era to earn both honors in the same season. He was selected to the NABC All-District 7 first team in early March.

Rose, who was also a C-USA All-Freshman Team pick, is second on the team in scoring (14.1 ppg) and leads the squad with 141 assists. The 141 dimes are tied for the third-most by a freshman in Tiger history. The 6-foot-3 guard, who is a Cousy Award and Wooden Award finalist, is ranked among C-USA leaders in scoring (9th), field goal percentage (15th), assists (4th), steals (12th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (10th).

Other players selected to the USBWA All-District 4 team were: Kentucky' Ramel Bradley, Vanderbilt's Shan Foster, Mississippi State's Jamont Gordon, Alabama's Richard Hendrix, Tennessee's Chris Lofton and Tyler Smith, Louisville's David Padgett and UAB's Robert Vaden.