Ben Larson (born ) is an American former
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
player. A native of
Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart ( ) is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, Indiana, east of Chicago, Illinois, and north of Indianapolis, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of t ...
,
Larson played
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
basketball at
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...
(Cal Poly) from 1995 to 1999, where as a true
freshman
A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions.
A ...
he was named the
American West Conference Player of the Year.
The 1995–96 season saw him average career highs of 12.8 points, 5.2 assists, 3.4 steals, and 2.7 rebounds per game.
He led the American West in assists and steals per game in guiding the
Mustangs
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, the ...
to win the regular season championship.
[
After Larson's freshman season, the ]American West Conference
The American West Conference (AWC) was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1993 to 1996. It consisted of schools in California and Utah. The charter members of the conference were California Polytechnic State University; Cal ...
disbanded.[ Cal Poly joined the ]Big West Conference
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...
.[ In each of his final three seasons, Larson declined his scoring averages down to 11.0, 7.2, and 5.0 points, respectively.][ He did not attain the same overall impact he did in his freshman year and then went unselected in the 1999 NBA draft.][ Larson never played professional basketball.
]
College statistics
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 1995–96
, style="text-align:left;", Cal Poly
, 29 , , 29 , , 36.3 , , .379 , , .382 , , .709 , , 2.7 , , 5.2 , , 3.4 , , 0.1 , , 12.8
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 1996–97
, style="text-align:left;", Cal Poly
, 30 , , , , 30.2 , , .395 , , .333 , , .870 , , 2.7 , , 3.5 , , 2.3 , , 0.3 , , 11.0
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 1997–98
, style="text-align:left;", Cal Poly
, 26 , , , , 31.5 , , .360 , , .333 , , .726 , , 2.7 , , 4.9 , , 2.1 , , 0.3 , , 7.2
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 1998–99
, style="text-align:left;", Cal Poly
, 22 , , , , , , .353 , , .321 , , .650 , , 2.0 , , 4.5 , , 2.3 , , 0.0 , , 5.0
, -
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 107 , , , , , , .377 , , .351 , , .761 , , 2.6 , , 4.5 , , 2.6 , , 0.2 , , 9.4
See also
* Sean (Allen) McCaw – the only other American West Conference Player of the Year (1995)
References
External links
College statistics
@ sports-reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Ben
1970s births
Living people
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Indiana
Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball players
Point guards
Sportspeople from Elkhart, Indiana