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Fredette & Leonard Drafted in 1st Round


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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
- BYU's Jimmer Fredette and San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard were both selected in the first round of the 2011 National Basketball Association Draft held June 23 in Newark, N.J. Fredette and Leonard are the 12th and 13th players in the 12-year history of the Mountain West to be chosen in the NBA Draft. The Mountain West was one of four conferences with multiple players taken in the top 15 of this year's draft.

Fredette was chosen as the No. 10 pick by the Milwaukee Bucks, becoming the highest-drafted Mountain West player since No. 1 selection Andrew Bogut in 2005. A native of Glens Falls, N.Y., Fredette is the eighth BYU player to go in the first round of the NBA Draft and first since Rafael Araujo was selected eighth by the Toronto Raptors in 2004.

Leonard was the 15th overall selection in this year's draft, going to the Indiana Pacers. He is the 18th NBA draft pick in Aztec history and first since Randy Holcomb was selected in the second round with the 57th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs in 2002. Leonard is the second Aztec to be drafted in the first round, joining Michael Cage, who was taken as the No. 14 pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004.

Both players were later traded to other teams, with Fredette going to the Sacramento Kings and Leonard going to the San Antonio Spurs.

This marks the second time the Mountain West has had two players selected in the first round, and coincidentally, the same two NBA teams were involved. While the Bucks took Bogut as the No. 1 pick in the 2005 draft, the Pacers chose New Mexico's Danny Granger with the No. 17 selection.

Overall, the Mountain West has had eight players drafted in the first round. New Mexico's J.R. Giddens was a first-round pick in 2008, while Colorado State's Jason Smith was a first-round selection in 2007. BYU's Rafael Araujo and UNLV's Marcus Banks were selected in the first round in 2004 and 2003, respectively.

The 6-foot-2 Fredette led the nation in scoring (28.9 ppg) this season and was the nation's consensus player of the year, as he received every major award, including the Wooden, Naismith and Oscar Robertson Trophies. Fredette led BYU to a program-record 32 victories, a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 and a final Associated Press ranking of 10. The 2010-11 MW Player of the Year also set a program record with 124 three-pointers and added 4.3 assists per game this season.

The 6-foot-7 Leonard averaged 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in 2010-11 while helping the Aztecs to a school-record 34 wins, a NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and final Top-25 rankings of No. 6 and No. 11 in the AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' polls, respectively. The Riverside, Calif., product also tied a school single-season record with 23 double-doubles and added 2.5 assists per game en route to earning All-Conference and All-America honors.

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