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Santa Clara's sophomore forward Marc Trasolini and freshman point guard Robert Smith have both been honored today by the West Coast Conference as part of the conference's post-season awards. Trasolini was named to the All-WCC Honorable Mention team and Smith was named to the five-man WCC All-Freshman Team. The awards were voted on by the league coaches.
Trasolini leads the team with 14.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 1.7 bpg. He also leads the team in league play with 13.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 1.2 bpg. He is the team's second-best free throw shooter, making better than 78 percent of his shots.
Trasolini is one of the WCC leaders as well, ranking in the top 10 of seven categories in overall stats and in the top 10 of four categories in league play. In overall stats, he is No. 3 in bpg; No. 4 in field goal percentage (53.8%); No. 8 in rpg and offensive rebounds; No. 9 in ppg; and No. 10 in free throw percentage (78.2%) and No. 10 in defensive rebounds. In league play he is No. 4 in bpg; No. 9 in ppg and defensive rebounds; and No. 10 in ppg.
Trasolini was named to the WCC All-Freshman team last season. Off the court, he was the only player from the WCC or Pac-10 to be named to the All-District Academic All-American team this season and was also named to the WCC Winter Scholar-Athlete Team.
"Marc has had to step into a major role this season with last season's top three scorers gone and has filled in admirably. He continues to improve and I expect even greater things from in as his junior season approaches," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating.
Smith leads the team with 3.1 apg and playing 32.9 mpg. He is second on the team with 12.0 ppg and overall and 12.4 ppg in league play. Smith already has broken the Santa Clara freshman school record, playing 1,020 minutes this season. He should finish in the top three of seven freshman record categories as well.
Smith is No. 6 in WCC overall stats with 32.9 mpg. He is No. 5 in mpg and 8 in apg in league play.
"Robert has been through a long process this year without last season's conference newcomer of the year, Kevin Foster, by his side all season," said Keating. "With that said, I'm proud that he and his fellow classmates could continue to improve this entire season. Robert being recognized by our coaches as an all freshman selection is well deserved and will be a great base for him to build on with his teammates as our future approaches. He is among great company on the five-man team and will be a part of our conference's continued growth." Gonzaga's Matt Bouldin was named the WCC Player of the Year; Saint Mary's Omar Samhan was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year; Gonzaga's Elias Harris was named the WCC Newcomer of the Year and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few was named the WCC Coach of the Year.
Santa Clara plays San Diego on Fri., March 5 at 8:15 pm in Las Vegas in the first round of the WCC Tournament.
