Tuesday, March 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Four players from last year's All-America basketball team were eligible to return to college this season. The only one who did found his way back to the first team.
Tim Duncan of Wake Forest was a unanimous selection Monday for the All-America team, becoming the first repeat choice since Shaquille O'Neal of LSU five years ago.
The 6-foot-10 senior center was named on all 68 ballots by the national media panel and received 340 points, four more than Keith Van Horn of Utah, who missed being a unanimous choice by two votes.
The other first-team selections were Ron Mercer of Kentucky, Raef LaFrentz of Kansas and Danny Fortson of Cincinnati.
Marcus Camby of Massachusetts, Allen Iverson of Georgetown and Ray Allen of Connecticut all declared for the NBA draft after making the All-America team as underclassmen last season. The other first-team member was senior Kerry Kittles of Villanova.
Duncan led the Demon Deacons to a 23-6 record and a Top 10 ranking all season while averaging 20.9 points and 14.3 rebounds. He shot 61 percent from the field and blocked 94 shots and won his second straight Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year award.
Duncan, a third-team choice as a sophomore, needs 10 rebounds for a career total of 1,538, a figure that would make him college basketball's most prolific rebounder in the last 25 years.
"I think we can all agree, without any kind of dissent, that he is certainly one of the best to ever play in this league, not only at his position, but at any position," Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said. "I think he has done it with great style and great emotion and great compassion."
The last unanimous selection was Purdue's Glenn Robinson in 1994.
The 6-10 Van Horn, now known for his consecutive buzzer-beaters in the Western Athletic Conference tournament last week, averaged 22.2 points and 9.4 rebounds for the Utes, who enter the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 2 with a 26-3 record.
"I'm surely honored," the three-time WAC player of the year said Monday. "I think it really reflects the effort and success of the team as well as myself. If it wasn't for my teammates and the people who support me, I wouldn't be talking about this."
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