April 12, 2005

CHAPEL HILL -- Raymond Felton, the most outstanding point guard in the country, and center Sean May, the Most Outstanding Player in the 2005 Final Four, were named co-Most Valuable Players as the University of North Carolina handed out its annual postseason awards at a ceremony Tuesday night at the Smith Center.

The awards ceremony capped a day in which the Tar Heels were honored by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley at the governor's mansion and the General Assembly at the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

Felton and May led the Tar Heels to the 2005 NCAA championship with a 75-70 win over Illinois on April 4.

Felton, a junior from Latta, S.C., led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 6.9 assists per game and a three-point field goal percentage of .440. He was fourth on the team in scoring with 12.9 points per game and was fourth in the ACC with 2.0 steals per game. Felton also was named Carolina's Most Valuable Player as a freshman in 2002-03. Earlier this month, he received the Bob Cousy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame as the top point guard in the country.

May, a junior from Bloomington, Ind., led all players in the 2005 NCAA Tournament in scoring and rebounding, the first player to do so on the title-winning team since Danny Manning of Kansas in 1988. May scored 134 points (22.3 per game) and had 64 rebounds (10.7) in Carolina's six NCAA Tournament wins. A first-team All-America, May had 26 points and 10 boards in the title game vs. the Illini.

May also received the Jimmie Dempsey Award, which is given to the Tar Heel with the best overall statistics. He finished the year averaging a team-high 17.5 points and 10.7 rebounds and shot 56.7 percent from the floor, also the best figure on the squad.

Jackie Manuel, a senior guard from West Palm Beach, Fla., received a number of awards Tuesday, including the Carmichael Cobb Award as the team's best defensive player, the Foy Roberson Award as the most inspirational player and an outstanding senior award. Manuel was also named one of the team's permanent tri-captains.

Jawad Williams (Cleveland, Ohio) and Melvin Scott (Baltimore, Md.) joined Manuel in winning the team's most outstanding senior awards and were named tri-captains.

Marvin Williams, a freshman from Bremerton, Wash., was named the team's outstanding first-year player and received the award for having the team's top free throw percentage (.847), which was fourth-best in the ACC.

Sophomore Wes Miller (Charlotte, N.C.) received the Rick Sharp Award for contributions in practice and junior center Byron Sanders (Gulfport, Miss.) received the Athletic Director's Award as the team's top scholar-athlete. The scholar-athlete award was renamed in honor of Burgess McSwain, the team's longtime academic counselor who passed away last spring.