Arron Afflalo

Arron Agustin Afflalo (born October 15, 1985) is an American professional basketball player, currently with the Detroit Pistons. He recently completed a three-year career at University of California, Los Angeles in the Pacific Ten Conference of the NCAA as the starting shooting guard for the UCLA men's basketball team. On June 28, 2007, Afflalo was drafted with the 27th overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons.
Contents
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* 1 Biography
* 2 College career
* 3 NCAA Tournament
* 4 Awards and recognition
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Afflalo was born at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, only a few minutes walk from Pauley Pavilion, where the UCLA Bruins play their home games. His parents are Benjamin Afflalo and Gwendolyn Washington. He has a younger sister named Paris. He has ancestors of Jamaican, Portuguese, and Spanish backgrounds. Arron majors in sociology at UCLA and was on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for Spring 2005.[1] Afflalo declared for the 2006 NBA Draft, but pulled his name out before the deadline, opting to return to UCLA for his junior season.[2] Afflalo has been one of the top players in the country as a junior earning a spot on the Associated Press All-America team. This honor makes Afflalo UCLA's first consensus All-American since Ed O'Bannon in the 1994-95 season. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 1st round of the 2007 NBA Draft, making him the 27th pick overall.

[edit] College career

Noted for being the first player recruited by current UCLA coach Ben Howland[3] to play for Howland at UCLA, Afflalo, who helped lead Compton Centennial High School to a California Division-III 2nd place finish(losing to RiordanSan Francisco) in 2003-2004, his senior year of high school, started 29 games the next season for the UCLA Bruins as a freshman, averaging 10.8 points per game and playing the role of a defensive stopper.

With the graduation of leading scorer Dijon Thompson, Afflalo shouldered more of the offensive load in his second year on the team, averaging a team-high 15.8 points per game. He also continued to guard some of the Bruins' opponents' top scorers.

His defensive dominance throughout the 2006-2007 season (one example being holding Cal's Ayinde Ubaka to zero points in one of the two teams' matchups), and his 17.4 ppg led to him being voted the Pac-10 Player of the Year by the other coaches in the conference. Commenting on the award, Afflalo said, "It is good that contributions on both ends of the floor are recognized ... If you truly have a love and passion for the game, then you should work at every aspect of it, not just the part that gives you (attention), that being scoring."[4]

[edit] NCAA Tournament

In a 2006 NCAA tournament game against Alabama, Afflalo hit the game-winning three-point shot and also defended Alabama point guard Ronald Steele on his errant three-point attempt which would have given Alabama the lead.

In the Bruins 2006 Sweet Sixteen comeback victory over Gonzaga, Afflalo and teammate Ryan Hollins, in what was later widely hailed as a classy move, helped the distraught Gonzaga star Adam Morrison off the court after the final buzzer sounded.[5] Against Memphis in the Elite Eight, Afflalo was noted by many to be largely responsible for stopping Rodney Carney and helping UCLA advance to the Final Four.

In the 2007 NCAA Tournament he was named the West Regional's Most Outstanding Player after scoring 24 points and making several big plays in a 68-55 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks. However, his quick foul trouble against the Florida Gators cost his team the ability to successfully compete and the Bruins ended up bowing out of the tournament.

[edit] Awards and recognition

* CIF Southern Section III-A Player of the Year: 2002-2003, 2003-2004
* All-Pac-10 Freshman First Team: 2004-2005
* All-Pac-10 First Team: 2005-2006, 2006-2007
* Pac-10 Player of the Year: 2006-2007
* Pre-season All-American: 2006-07
* ESPN First Team All-American: 2006-2007
* National Association of Basketball Coaches First Team All-American: 2006-2007
* Sporting News First Team All-American: 2006-2007
* Sports Illustrated First Team All-American: 2006-2007
* Dick Vitale First Team All-American: 2006-2007
* USBWA District IX Player of the Year: 2006-2007
* Associated Press First Team All-American: 2006-2007