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McDonald's All Americans™ Featured on Majority of Men's and Women's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Teams

The 22 Teams with McDonald's All Americans Could be Solid Indicators of This Year's NCAA Champion

PRNewswire
OAK BROOK, Ill.
Mar 25, 2004

What teams will take home the 2004 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championship trophies? The teams in the NCAA Men's and Women's sweet 16 with McDonald's All Americans on the roster just might be the answer.

March Madness is in full swing and if history is any indication, the following six teams: Duke, Kansas, Illinois, Texas, UConn and Wake Forest seem to have the best chance for an NCAA Championship. Since 1979, at least one McDonald's All American boy player has been a part of all but one NCAA title. In all, more than 60 McDonald's All American alumni have played a role in winning the NCAA crown.

This will be the second year that members from the All American Girls Team will participate in the NCAA tournament, since the Inaugural Game just took place in 2002. If the tradition holds true, 13 teams with All American players could be competing for the 2004 Women's National Championship.

Combined, there are 43 McDonald's All Americans (16 Boys, 27 Girls) on NCAA sweet 16 teams this year. The players, the year they played in the McDonald's All American Game® and their schools are:

  Boys Players

  Name                      Year Played              School
  Chris Duhon                    2000                Duke
  Daniel Ewing                   2001                Duke
  Loul Deng                      2003                Duke
  Sean Dockery                   2002                Duke
  Shavlik Randolph               2002                Duke
  J.J. Redick                    2002                Duke
  J.R. Giddens                   2003                Kansas
  Aaron Miles                    2001                Kansas
  David Padgett                  2003                Kansas
  Wayne Simien                   2001                Kansas
  Dee Brown                      2002                Illinois
  Brian Boddicker                2000                Texas
  Taliek Brown                   2000                UConn
  Charlie Villanueva             2003                UConn
  Chris Paul                     2003                Wake Forest
  Eric Williams                  2002                Wake Forest

  Girls Players

  Name                      Year Played              School
  Mistie Bass                    2002                Duke
  Alison Bales                   2003                Duke
  Brittany Hunter                2003                Duke
  Alexis Kendrick                2002                Georgia
  Cori Chambers                  2003                Georgia
  Courtney LaVere                2002                Notre Dame
  Crystal Erwin                  2003                Notre Dame
  Seimone Augustus               2002                LSU
  Tamika Kursh                   2002                Louisiana Tech
  Willnett Crockett              2002                UConn
  Ann Strother                   2002                UConn
  Barbara Turner                 2002                UConn
  Nicole Wolff                   2002                UConn
  Elizabeth Sherwood             2003                UConn
  Dee Davis                      2003                Vanderbilt
  Jennifer Hall                  2003                Vanderbilt
  Liz Podominick                 2003                Minnesota
  Jennifer Harris                2003                Penn State
  Katie Gearlds                  2003                Purdue
  Erin Lawless                   2003                Purdue
  Brooke Smith                   2002                Stanford
  Tye'sha Fluker                 2002                Tennessee
  Shanna Zolman                  2002                Tennessee
  Dominique Redding              2003                Tennessee
  Nina Norman                    2002                Texas
  Kalee Carey                    2003                Texas
  Tiffany Jackson                2003                Texas

The 2004 McDonald's All American High School Boys Basketball Game marks its 27th Anniversary and tips off at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, March 31. The Game will be broadcast live on ESPN, beginning at 9 p.m. (EST).

The third annual McDonald's All American Girls Game also will be played at the Ford Center on Wednesday, March 31, and will precede the Boys Game with tip-off at 6:30 p.m. (EST). ESPN2 will air the game on Thursday, April 1 at 5 p.m. (EST).

A portion of the proceeds from the 2004 McDonald's All American Game benefit the Ronald McDonald's House Charities of Oklahoma.

McDonald's is the world's leading food service retailer with more than 30,000 local McDonald's restaurants serving 47 million customers each day in more than 100 countries. More than 70 percent of McDonald's restaurants around the world are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and women.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990916/MCDLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840

SOURCE: McDonald's Corporation

CONTACT: Michon Ellis of McDonald's, +1-630-623-4061,
michon.ellis@mcd.com , or Kevin Dietz of Golin-Harris, +1-312-729-4281,
kdietz@golinharris.com

Web site: http://www.mcdonalds.com/