Kolby Morgan named Preseason All-AAC Second Team; Tulane picked sixth

PHILADELPHIA – Tulane senior guard Kolby Morgan has been named to the American Athletic Conference Preseason Second Team, the league announced on Monday morning.

The Green Wave were picked by the league coaches to finish sixth in the American, scoring 73 points in the voting to finish six points behind fifth-place SMU.

Morgan, who ranks sixth all-time in Tulane history with 1,634 points, finished the 2016-17 season as an All-AAC Second Team member. As a sophomore in 2015-16, she was on the All-AAC Second Team as well, and Morgan broke into her Tulane career with an All-AAC Third team and All-Freshman Team campaign.

Besides her point-scoring prowess, Morgan sits in the top 10 all-time in Tulane history in 12 other categories including field goals made, free throw percentage, steals, games started and more.

The senior is 95 points away from fifth all-time in team history and needs 626 points to surpass Grace Daley’s all-time Tulane record of 2,259 points. She is the only player in Tulane history to eclipse 1,000 career points in her first two years with the team and has scored in double figures in 83 of her 99 career games.

Morgan and the Green Wave begin the 2017-18 season on November 10 at Maine.

UConn was picked to repeat as champions of the conference, scoring 121 points and earning 11 of the 12 first-place votes. USF finished second in the preseason poll with 110 points and Temple was third with 98 points. UConn junior Napheesa Collier was named the league’s Preseason Player of the Year.

Season tickets for Tulane women’s basketball are now on sale and can be found online through TulaneTix.com.

2017-18 American Preseason Coaches’ Poll (First-place votes in parenthesis)
1. UConn (11)* 121
2. USF (1) 110
3. Temple 98
4. UCF 91
5. SMU 79
6. Tulane 73
7. Memphis 53
8. Cincinnati 50
9. Tulsa 43
10. Wichita State 31
11. Houston 27
12. ECU 16
* unanimous selection

2017-18 American Preseason Honors
Preseason Player of the Year
Napheesa Collier, Jr., F, UConn

Preseason All-Conference Teams
First Team
Aliyah Gregory, Sr., G, UCF
Napheesa Collier, Jr., F, UConn *
Katie Lou Samuelson, Jr., G/F, UConn
Gabby Williams, Sr., F, UConn *
Kitija Laksa, Jr., G, USF

Second Team
Kia Nurse, Sr., G, UConn
Maria Jespersen, Sr., F, USF
Alicia Froling, Sr., F, SMU
Alliya Butts, Sr., G, Temple
Kolby Morgan, Sr., G, Tulane

* unanimous selection