Gooden, Hinrich earn spots on All-Big 12 men's squad

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Drew Gooden and Kirk Hinrich, the key performers in No. 1 Kansas' unbeaten conference season, are unanimous first-team selections to The Associated Press All-Big 12 team for 2001-2002.

A panel of sports writers and broadcasters also named Texas Tech's Andre Emmett, Oklahoma's Hollis Price and Missouri's Kareem Rush to the first team.

The sophomore Emmett, who finished third behind Gooden and Rush among Big 12 scorers with 19.4 points per game, was named on every first-team ballot but one and is the only non-junior among the elite five.

It would have been a surprise if the 6-10 Gooden, the Big 12's leading scorer (20.6 points per game) and rebounder (11.1), had not been unanimous. The California native, who had 20 games in which he scored and rebounded in double figures, also had 57 steals, ranking third in a conference the Jayhawks dominated with the first 16-0 mark since the Big 12 was formed in 1996.

One of his finest games came in a 102-66 rout of Iowa State in which he scored 26 points.

"Gooden was just unbelievable," Iowa State's Jake Sullivan said. "He just beat us in every way possible."

The 6-3 Hinrich averaged 15.7 points for the Jayhawks and alternated with freshman Aaron Miles at point guard, finishing fourth in the league with 5.38 assists per game.

In one four-game stretch capped by a 108-81 rout of then-No. 24 Texas Tech, Hinrich scored 93 points, going 15-of-21 from 3-point range and 17-of-17 from the foul line.

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