Coyotes big men recognized by CCAA

By Richard Dawson |Staff Writer|

Junior forward Kwame Alexander and senior forward Theron Laudermill were recognized on Feb. 29 by the CCAA for their on-court impacts this season.

Alexander was named to the All-CCAA’s first team and Laudermill was named to the second team.

On March 7, Alexander was also named to Daktronics All-West Region second team.

All the attention could be overwhelming for some, but Alexander takes it in stride.

“It has been a really good, positive experience,” said Alexander. “When you have different groups of people asking to do interviews, asking your opinion on things, its nice being in a position to share positivity and try to make a good impact.”

Despite the major increase in his performance this season, Alexander feels that there are still some areas in his game which need to be improved.

“Over this offseason, I will spend time working on improving my jumper, defense, improving my handles,” said Alexander. “I am a natural lefty, and a lot of teams’ game-plan and try to shade me to go right not realizing that I am just as comfortable going that way.”

Laudermill is proud of his accomplishment, but expressed his desire to still be out on the hardwood with his teammates.

“It’s cool, but I would trade an individual accolade for an opportunity for our team to still be playing,” said Laudermill.

Even though his career at CSUSB might be over, Laudermill still has plans of playing ball.

“Right now I am still waiting to see what opportunities present themselves.” said Laudermill. “Whether its overseas, tryouts with the NBA D-League, wherever it may be, I know my faith and hard work will lead to results.”

Despite playing ball most of his life, Laudermill believes he hasn’t reached his full potential.

“The interesting thing about me is that I have never really been in peak physical shape for my size,” said Laudermill. “I am going to spend the next couple months really pushing to get in the best shape I can.”

Having been a starter the past two years, one moment that stood out to the senior was the game against UCLA earlier this season.

“That game opened up my eyes to the game at the next level,” said Laudermill. “Guarding guys like Josh Smith was a great challenge for me. I was proud of my team that game, because we played really well and hung in there until the end even though Kwame and Tre’ had foul trouble that night.”

Alexander will look back on this year and strive to continue to perform at a high level while polishing his skills in order to reach his full potential. As for Laudermill, this is just the beginning of what we hope will be a long, successful career.