March 18, 2009

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NEW YORK, N.Y. - University of Memphis head coach John Calipari has been named the 2008-09 Sports Illustrated National Coach of the Year, the magazine announced Wednesday prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament. Tiger freshman Tyreke Evans has been selected to the magazine's All-America third team.

It is the first time that Calipari received Sports Illustrated's National Coach of the Year honor. The Tigers' head coach is also a finalist for the Henry Iba and Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year awards. Last season, Calipari received the Naismith National Coach of the Year accolade, and became only the second coach to earn the honor twice since the award's inception in 1987. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is the other coach to have won two Naismith awards.

Calipari, who was named the USBWA District 4 Coach of the Year Mar. 10, has guided the Tigers to a 31-3 overall record and a No. 2 seed in the West Region of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. It is the fourth-straight year the Tigers earned a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, and Memphis is the only school in the nation to have a top-two seed each of the last four years (2006-09).

Memphis' 31-3 record marks the four-consecutive year Calipari has directed his squad to a 30-win campaign. He is the first coach in NCAA Division I history to have four-straight 30-win seasons, and is also the winningest head coach in a four-year span in NCAA history with 135 victories from 2006-present.

The Tigers, under Calipari's guidance, enters the 2009 NCAA Tournament on a 25-game win streak. It is the third-straight year Memphis has had a win streak of 25 or more games (25 in 2006-07 and 2008-09, 26 in 2007-08), and is the only program in NCAA Division I history to have three-straight years with at least a 25-game win streak.

Memphis also completed a third-consecutive perfect season in Conference USA play. The Tigers posted a 16-0 regular season record for the third year in a row and swept the league's regular season and tournament titles for the fourth-consecutive season. Memphis ran its overall C-USA win streak to 61 games (regular season and tournament), which is the second-longest in NCAA Division I history. The program's 49-game C-USA regular season win streak is also the second-longest in NCAA history.

Earlier this season, Calipari became Memphis' all-time winningest coach, moving past Tiger legend Larry Finch. Calipari now has a record of 250-68 in his ninth season at Memphis. With the Tigers' fifth win in 2008-09, Calipari jumped into the No. 2 spot for most victories by a head coach in his first 17 years at the Division I level. Only Roy Williams has more wins by a head coach at the NCAA Division I level in the first 17 years than Calipari.

For Evans, it is his second national All-America honor, as he was also selected to CBSSports.com's All-America third team. The Chester, Pa., native received The Sporting News, CBSSports.com and FoxSports.com National Freshman of the Year honors.

Evans is a finalist for the 2008-09 Wooden Award and Oscar Robertson Trophy - both are National Player of the Year honors. He is the only freshman to be listed among the finalists for both awards.

The awards keep piling up for the 6-foot-6 guard. Last week, Evans was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year and earned All-C-USA first team distinction. Evans was also selected to the USBWA All-District 4 Team and the NABC All-District 11 first team. The Sporting News, CBSSports.com and FoxSports.com also selected him to its Freshman All-America first teams.

Evans, the 2009 C-USA Tournament MVP, leads the Tigers in scoring (16.6 ppg) and steals (70). He is averaging 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, while shooting 45 percent from the field and 69.9 percent from the free throw line. The nine-time Conference USA Rookie of the Week is ranked among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, assists and steals.

He is ranked third on the Memphis all-time freshmen steals list with 70 swipes. He is also fourth on the Tiger all-time freshman scoring chart with 565 points.

Memphis (31-3), ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, returns to action in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, Mar. 19. The Tigers will meet No. 15 seed Cal State Northridge at 11:25 am (CT) at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.