April 7, 2004
PORTSMOUTH, Va. -
University of Memphis senior Antonio Burks is participating in the Portsmouth Invitational this weekend. The four-day event, in its 52nd year, invites 64 college seniors to give them their first exposure to approximately 200 NBA representatives prior to the league's annual pre-draft camp in Chicago in May. The tournament begins today and runs through Saturday.
The Memphis, Tenn., native had an outstanding senior campaign in 2003-04. Burks received several postseason accolades, including Conference USA Player of the Year, ESPN.com Conference USA Player of the Year, All-Conference USA first team, CollegeInsider.com All-America team, Associated Press All-America honorable mention, National Association of Basketball Coach (NABC) All-District 7 second team, Basketball Times All-South team and Sports Illustrated NCAA Tournament Kansas City All-Pod squad. He was also a finalist for the inaugural Bob Cousy Award.
The 6-foot guard finished his career with 1,028 points (11.3 ppg), 487 assists (5.4 apg) and 177 steals (1.9 spg). He is only the fourth player in Tiger history to have 1,000 points, 450 assists and 170 steals. Andre Turner, Elliot Perry and Otis Jackson are the other three Tigers to accomplish that feat. Burks completed his career on the Memphis career charts for scoring (No. 34), assists (No. 6) and steals (No. 5).
Burks was second on the 2003-04 squad in scoring (16.0 ppg) and led the team with 165 assists. He ranked among C-USA leaders in scoring (8th), assists (2nd), steals (1st), three-point field goal percentage (6th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3rd).
The Tigers finished 2003-04 with a 22-8 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round. Memphis was ranked No. 24 in the final Associated Press (AP) poll, marking the first time the Tigers finished with a national ranking in consecutive seasons since 1985 and 1986. Memphis was ranked No. 19 in the 2003 final AP poll.
Burks is one of eight players from Conference USA to participate in this weekend's Portsmouth Invitational, joining Charlotte's Demon Brown, Cincinnati's Tony Bobbitt, DePaul's Andre Brown and Delonte Holland, Louisville's Luke Whitehead, Marquette's Scott Merritt and UAB's Mo Finley.
