Terry takes top grade

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior point guard Jason Terry (31) moves down court while a Cal player guards him during the game Saturday at McKale Center. Terry leads the Pac-10 with 21.4 points per game, 5.44 assists per game and is second in steals with 2.56 per game.

But as Dick Vitale has proven over the years, it's never too early to start speculating, just as Vitale did Monday night during the telecast of the Syracuse-Connecticut game when he gave UA senior point guard Jason Terry a vote for All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year.

So here are the Daily Wildcat selections for the first and second teams all-conference, broken down by position. Also included are the Pac-10 Player of the Year and the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year selections.

Point Guard: Terry has far and away been the best player in the conference, let alone the best point guard. Terry is leading the Pac-10 in scoring (21.4 ppg) and assists (5.44 apg) and is second in steals (2.56 spg). He also leads the conference in free throw shooting, hitting over 87 percent, including 16 for 16 over the last two games.

Second team - Arthur Lee (Stanford) gets the nod thanks to his three-point field goal percentage (.441) and incredible assist-to-turnover ratio (105 to 39).

Shooting Guard: ASU's Eddie House was a unanimous first team selection behind his 19.9 points per game. House has also done a good job rebounding (4.1 rpg) and defensively with 49 steals in 21 games. House is shooting better than 40 percent from long range and has the power on offense that can take over a game.

Second team - Jan-Michael Thomas (Washington State) is probably the best unknown shooter (16.4 ppg) in the conference. He is hitting 47 percent of his three-pointers and over 87 percent of his free throws.

Small Forward: Arizona's Richard Jefferson has solidified a starting job for the Wildcats and his numbers make him the most productive small forward in the league over Stanford's Peter Sauer and Washington's Deon Luton. Jefferson got the first team slot, while Luton made the second team. Jefferson out-rebounded and had more assists than Luton and is shooting 55 percent from the floor as a true freshman starter. While averaging only 12.6 ppg, Jefferson has shown that he can score with back-to-back games with over 20 points earlier in the season against Washington and Washington State. Luton (14.2 ppg) was hurt by relatively low rebounding numbers, with only 34 rebounds in 18 games.

Power Forward: It's hard to give two first-team spots to ASU, but Bobby Lazor has outscored (17.6 ppg) and out-rebounded (8.8 rpg) all other conference power forwards. Add on to that his good free throw percentage (78 percent) and timely three-point shooting, and Lazor is the most versatile forward in the league.

Second team - this selection came down between Stanford's Mark Madsen (63 percent field goal shooting) and Arizona's Michael Wright. The nod went to Wright (13.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg) because he is the best offensive rebounder in the league and his jump shot makes him more versatile than Madsen (12.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg).

Center: This was a two man battle between Washington 7-footer Todd MacCulloch and Arizona senior A.J. Bramlett. While Bramlett shut down the Canadian when the two teams played at McKale Center, the first-team spot had to go to MacCulloch because of his offensive numbers (18.7 ppg, 11.5 rpg). MacCulloch may have sealed this spot with his 26 points and 21 rebounds in a Husky upset over UCLA Sunday. MacCulloch has led the nation in field goal percentage (69 percent) over the past two years and is likely to do it again this year.

Bramlett has had the offensive opportunities and while he has proven himself to be one of the best defensive centers in the country, he misses too many shots around the rim to get voted ahead of the Huskie.

Player of the year: Terry in a landslide. Not only is he the best point guard in the conference and a sure-fire All-American, it can be argued that no player means as much to his team as Terry does.

Freshman of the year: Wright leads all freshmen in scoring and rebounding and is said to be one of the more coachable players with a great work ethic. Add his jump shot and free throw shooting and you have the most complete freshman player in the conference.

                                PPG  RPG  APG  FG%
PG- Jason Terry, Arizona       21.4  3.2  5.4 .470
SG- Eddie House, Arizona State 19.9  4.1  3.1 .446
SF- Richard Jefferson, Arizona 12.6  5.1  2.4 .550
PF- Bobby Lazor, Arizona State 17.6  8.8  2.6 .488
C- Todd MacCulloch, Washington 18.7  11.5 0.7 .690

                                PPG  RPG  APG  FG%
PG- Arthur Lee, Stanford       11.8  1.9  5.0 .426
SG- Jan-Michael Thomas, WSU    16.4  2.3  1.5 .461
SF- Deon Luton, Washington     14.2  1.9  1.6 .428
PF- Michael Wright, Arizona    13.5  8.3  0.2 .549
C- A.J. Bramlett, Arizona      14.3  9.3  1.2 .549

                                PPG  RPG  APG  FG%
PG- Brandon Granville, USC      7.3  2.1  4.7 .385
SG- Frederick Jones, Oregon    10.1  2.9  1.6 .516
SF- Richard Jefferson, Arizona 12.6  5.1  2.4 .550
PF- Michael Wright, Arizona    13.5  8.3  0.2 .549
C- Jerome Moiso, UCLA          13.1  6.5  1.2 .539