November 2, 2006 - Jason Thompson Named To Mid-Major All-America Team
November 2, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men's College Basketball
Rider's Jason Thompson Named to the Collegeinsider.com
Mid-Major Pre-Season All-America team
LAWRENCEVILLE--Jason Thompson (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) of the Rider men's basketball team has been named to the 25-player collegeinsider.com Mid-Major All-America team. “I think it is great that College Insider thinks enough of Jason to include him on a list with so many great college basketball players,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
A 6’10” junior forward, Thompson is a Preseason First Team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference selection this year.
“I think it is a great honor to be on that list, especially being a junior,” said Thompson, who is one of just five juniors on the list, dominated by seniors. “I see a lot of seniors on that list.”
“Jason has worked extremely hard and has really grown as a player since he arrived at Rider two years ago,” Dempsey said. “He has a chance to become one of the better players to ever play at Rider if he continues to work at his game everyday and more importantly if he does everything he can to help his team win.”
Last season Thompson was a Second Team All-MAAC selection when he ranked second in the MAAC in blocks (48), fourth in rebounding, sixth in field goal percentage and seventh in scoring, and was the only player in the MAAC to rank among the top seven in more than two of those four categories.
“I take this as a great honor, but I’m not going to play any different,” Thompson said. “I’m just going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing to try to help my team win.”
“Individual honors are nice but when it is over he will only go down as a great player at Rider if his team wins,” Dempsey said.
Division I coaches and NBA scouts were part of the selection process, with the final decision made by the collegeinsider.com staff.
| Antonie Agudio | G | 6-3 | Jr | Hofstra |
| Blake Ahearn | G | 6-2 | Sr | Missouri State |
| Larry Blair | G | 6-0 | Sr | Liberty |
| Bobby Brown | G | 6-0 | Sr | Cal-State Fullerton |
| T.J. Carter | G | 6-3 | Sr | UNC-Wilmington |
| Brandon Cotton | G | 6-0 | Sr | Detroit |
| Nate Funk | G | 6-3 | Sr | Creighton |
| Caleb Green | F | 6-8 | Sr | Oral Roberts |
| Ibrahim Jaaber | G | 6-2 | Sr | Penn |
| Trey Johnson | G | 6-5 | Sr | Jackson State |
| Jared Jordan | G | 6-2 | Sr | Marist |
| Courtney Lee | F | 6-5 | Jr | Western Kentucky |
| Torrell Martin | G | 6-5 | Sr | Winthrop |
| Dominick Mejia | G | 6-4 | Sr | Drexel |
| Chris McNaughton | C | 6-11 | Sr | Bucknell |
| Gary Neal | G | 6-4 | Sr | Towson |
| Chris Oliver | F | 6-7 | Sr | Radford |
| Jejuan Plair | G | 6-1 | Sr | Sam Houston State |
| Joe Reitz | C | 6-7 | Jr | Western Michigan |
| Blake Schilb | G | 6-7 | Sr | Loyola-Chicago |
| Keith Simmons | G | 6-5 | Sr | Holy Cross |
| Andrew Strait | C | 6-8 | Jr | Montana |
| Jason Thompson | F | 6-10 | Jr | Rider |
| Romeo Travis | F | 6-7 | Sr | Akron |
| Brandon Worthy | G | 6-2 | Sr | Loyola Marymount |
| PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Trey Johnson, Jackson State |
