Marquette's Howard named first-team AP All-American
Markus Howard continues to rack up accolades like he did points at Marquette.
The Golden Eagles senior guard was named a first-team All-American by The Associated Press on Friday alongside Dayton’s Obi Toppin, Iowa’s Luka Garza, Seton Hall’s Myles Powell and Oregon’s Payton Pritchard.
Toppin was the only unanimous selection, being named first team on all 65 ballots. Howard earned 43 firstteam votes.
Howard is MU’s fifth player to make the AP first team after Dean Meminger (1971), Jim Chones (1972), Butch Lee (1978) and Dwyane Wade (2003).
Howard was named to the Sporting News’ All-American first team earlier this month. To become a consensus first-teamer, he would need to add recognition from the United States Basketball Writers Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Both of those teams will be announced in the coming weeks.
Meminger, Lee and Wade were all consensus All-Americans. Chones was left off a few All-American teams in 1972 because he left MU during the season to join the American Basketball Association.
Howard, a 5-foot-11 guard from
Chandler, Arizona, led the nation in scoring with 27.8 points per game. He had 15 games with 30 or more points this past season.
Howard is leaving MU with a schoolrecord 2,731 points, which puts him at No. 21 on the NCAA career list.
He would have played at least two more games in the postseason, but the threat of the coronavirus ended the Golden Eagles’ season before the Big East tournament.
Other scoring marks for Howard include:
❚ Seventh in NCAA history with 434 three-pointers
❚ Big East career leader in league games with 1,587 points
❚ Three career games with 50 or more points, including scoring 51 against Southern California this season in the Orlando Invitational.
Kansas’ Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike both received more than 20 first-team votes but fell to the second team after essentially taking votes away from each other. San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn, Cassius Winston of Michigan State and Duke’s Vernon Carey Jr. were also on the second team.
Filip Petrusev of Gonzaga, Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, Baylor’s Jared Butler, Duke’s Tre Jones and Jalen
Smith of Maryland were on the third team.
Loyola Marymount tabs Johnson
For the third straight season, Marquette men’s basketball head coach Steve Wojciechowski will need to replace an assistant coach.
MU associate head coach Stan Johnson was named head coach of Loyola Marymount on Friday.
“Stan has a tremendous vision for the future of LMU men’s basketball, and he has the distinct ability to connect with and inspire student-athletes on and off the court,” Loyola Marymount athletic director Craig Pintens said in a statement.
Johnson replaces Mike Dunlap, who was fired after going 81-108 in six seasons.
Wojciechowski hired Johnson at MU five years ago from the Arizona State staff.
Johnson quickly became an integral part of the MU staff, known for forming deep bonds with players and recruits.
It was his strong connection with Howard that helped bring the guard to the Golden Eagles.
Chris Carrawell left the MU staff after the 2017-18 season to become an assistant at Duke. He was replaced by Dwyane Killings. Former MU assistant Brett Nelson became Holy Cross’ head coach after last season. He was replaced by Jake Presutti.