Men's Basketball
2006-07 All-Conference Team

(Lebanon, Ill., March 5) – For the second year in a row, the University of Illinois at Springfield has captured the American Midwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament championship. The top-seeded Prairie Stars rallied for an 86-82 win against No. 2 seed McKendree College in the 2007 title game played in Springfield, Ill.

As the AMC Tournament champion, Illinois-Springfield receives the conference's automatic bid to the 2007 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship. The 32-team event will be held March 14-20 at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.

The 2006-07 AMC post-season award winners were announced following the conclusion of the championship contest. Eddie Smith of the University of Illinois at Springfield was selected as the 2006-07 AMC Player of the Year as well as the Newcomer of the Year. Smith, a 6-2 senior guard from Springfield, Ill., averaged 22.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in leading the Prairie Stars to an 11-1 record in league play. Smith shot 51 percent from the field and 74.3 percent from the free throw line and was named the conference Player of the Week four times during the year.   

Matt Reynolds from the University of Illinois at Springfield has been named the 2006-07 AMC Freshman of the Year. Reynolds, a 6-4 forward from Peoria, Ill., recorded six points and four rebounds per game in his rookie season with the Prairie Stars. Reynolds is the second consecutive UIS player to earn Freshman of the Year honors, joining teammate Kelvin Johnson, who was the 2005-06 AMC freshman honoree.

For the second straight year, Kevin Gamble from the University of Illinois at Springfield is the AMC Coach of the Year. Gamble, now in his fifth season at UIS, received the 2006-07 honor by leading the Prairie Stars to their first outright AMC regular-season championship and a No. 17 ranking in the final NAIA Division poll of the year. Through the AMC championship game, Gamble has compiled an overall record of 76-77 during his tenure at Illinois-Springfield.

A complete list of the 10-member AMC All-Conference team, the honorable mention squad and the academic all-conference team, is included on the following pages. Members of the Academic All-Conference team have earned at least a cumulative 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.

- AMC -

2006-07 AMC All-Conference Team
Men's Basketball

First Team All-Conference

Honorable Mention All-Conference

2006-07 American Midwest Conference
Academic All-Conference Team