Luke Cooper captured 2008 AOY honors after piloting the men’s basketball team to the NCAA Semifinals for just the second time in school history and writing his name into the NCAA record books for assists. The 6-footer racked up several prestigious awards in his senior campaign, including a pair of All-America honors. He was also the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year, an All-West Region pick in both the coaches’ (NABC) and sports information directors’ (Daktronics) voting, and one of 16 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard. The Melbourne, Australia, native led NCAA D-II in assists per game with 8.9 and ranked second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.56-to-1. Also averaging a career-best 7.7 points per game, he helped the Seawolves to the best record in program history at 29-6, their first-ever GNAC title, and a trip to the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass. Cooper’s 310 total assists in ’07-08 and his 880 career assists both rank No. 4 on the single-season and all-time lists for Div. II. In terms of career assists per game, Cooper finished No. 11 with 7.3 apg. In ’07-08, he dished double-digit assists on 15 occasions – including school records of 18 against Saint Martin’s and 17 against MSU Billings – and 32 times in his 4-year career.
