Almeida named NJCAA 1st Team Preseason All-American
Jim Howell
Nov. 5th, 2009
Reigning ACCAC Player of the Year to lead Matadors into new season Friday night
Yuma, Arizona – November 5, 2009 – Arizona Western College is proud to announce that AWC Men’s Basketball player Andre Almeida has been named to the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Preseason All-American list. Almeida was named to the 1st Team, and is the first Matador Men’s Basketball player to receive the preseason honor since Mehdi Cheriet earned Honorable Mention honors on the list in the fall of 2007. The announcement comes a little more than 24 hours before the Matadors play their first regular season game of the 2009-10 season.
The fact that Almeida’s name was high on the list should be no surprise to anyone who watched Almeida perform in cardinal and gold last season. Almeida’s presence inside and his ability to adjust everything that Matador opponents did offensively in 2008-09 was one of the main reasons that Almeida was named the ACCAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year by the ACCAC coaches last March. The native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, led the conference in field goal percentage the last 2 months of the season, running away from the pack by hitting 70.5% of his shots, and his 13.7 points-per-game average also put him among the ACCAC leaders. Defensively, he led the conference in blocked shots from beginning to end last year, averaging 3.5 blocks per game. He was also among the top 10 in the conference in rebounds all year long as well with 8 boards per game. In addition to the Player of the Year honors, ‘The Velvet Tower’ was a 1st Team All-Region I and 1st Team All-ACCAC selection, and capped off his season by being named 2nd Team NJCAA All-American last April.
However, those who became accustomed to seeing the form of the 6-foot-10, 340-pound frame of Almeida in the middle for the Matadors will have to become accustomed to the ‘New Andre’ beginning tomorrow night. Almeida worked very hard in the off-season to improve his conditioning and strength, and as a result, he will take the floor tomorrow night at 315 pounds. Almeida and the 17th-ranked Matadors will commence their 2009-10 season hosting the College of the Desert Friday night, November 6th, at ‘The House’-AWC’s home gymnasium. It’s a 7:30PM tipoff, and admission prices for the single game are as follows: $5 for adults, $3 for military personnel (with valid military ID), seniors and students ages 12-17, and free for AWC students, NAU-Yuma students, Matador Athletic Association members and kids under the age of 12.
