Richmond, Va. - After one of its best Colonial Athletic Association seasons in school history, the William and Mary men's basketball team reaped the rewards at the league's annual award banquet on Thursday night highlighted by Tribe head coach Tony Shaver garnering CAA Coach of the Year honors. Senior Laimis Kisielius headlined the player awards for the Green and Gold, receiving Third-Team All-CAA accolades. The College also led the way on the league's All-Academic teams with a trio of honorees. Sophomore David Schneider received First-Team CAA All-Academic team honors, while Kisielius and fellow senior captain Chris Stratton received second team distinction.

Shaver became the third Tribe coach to garner the league's coach of the year honor, joining Charlie Woollum (1998) and Bruce Parkhill (1983). The Shaver-led Tribe tallied 10 CAA victories for only the second time in the College's 23-year history in the league. The Green and Gold also amassed 14 overall wins for the second straight season, giving the College back-to-back campaigns with at least 14 victories for first time since 1985. The fifth-year Tribe head man also won his 400th collegiate coaching game in 2007-08 when W&M defeated Fairfield, 71-50, on Dec. 31.

Kisielius has been one of the key components to the Tribe's success throughout the 2007-08 season. The Vilnius, Lithuania native ranks second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game, while also adding 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He garnered CAA Player of the Week honors earlier this season after scoring a career-best 26 points against Old Dominion and erupted for a 20-point outburst in an overtime victory at Drexel. He scored in double figures 16 times this season, while leading the Tribe in scoring on seven occasions.

On Jan. 30, Kisielius became the 29th player in W&M history to score 1,000 career points, accomplishing the mark in the College's 70-67 win at James Madison. He currently ranks 24th in W&M history in scoring at 1,066 points. The 6-8, 225-pounder also ranks among the top 15 in Tribe history in assists, 3-point field goals made, attempted and 3-point percentage. He is third on the W&M career list in games played at 113 and seventh in career minutes played at 2,977. Kisielius' honor marked the 19th occasion that a W&M player has earned All-CAA honors and the fifth occurrence under Shaver. Kisielius became the 13th Tribe player to earn the honor.

The Tribe led the way with a trio of 14 total CAA All-Academic team selections. It marked the second straight season in which the Tribe had three honorees. In fact, W&M has the most All-Academic team selection since 2000 with 14. On 10 occasions under Shaver, a Tribe player has been named to the league's All-Academic team.

Schneider, a business marketing major at the College, was one of five players named to the First-Team CAA All-Academic team. The Phoenix, Ariz., native is one of only nine players nationally (as of March 2) to lead his team in points (10.9), rebounds (4.8) and assists (3.7) per game. Schneider also ranks among the national leaders in free throw shooting (43rd at 85.5 percent), assist-to-turnover ratio (69th at 1.96) and steals per game (90th at 1.8).

Kisielius garnered second team all-academic team honors for the second straight season and was joined on the squad by Stratton, who was also the W&M nominee for the Dean Ehlers Award. Stratton has been a key contributor off the bench this season, appearing in 21 games, including a pair of starts. The Burke, Va., native is the President of the W&M chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has already accepted a position at Navigant Consulting in Washington, D.C. upon graduation in May.

The fifth-seeded Tribe will take part in the opening day of the 2008 Aeropostale CAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Richmond Coliseum on Friday, March 7. The College will meet the No. 12 seed Georgia State for the second straight year in the league tournament at 2:30 p.m. The winner will meet No. 4 Old Dominion in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 8, at 2:30 p.m. The Tribe's opening round game can be seen live over the Internet via free webstreaming at CAASports.com.

The quarterfinals and semifinals of the event will be televised by CN8 and on the web at CN8.tv. Regional sports networks CSS and SportsNet New York and WSKY in eastern Virginia will also carry quarterfinal and semifinal games. Monday's title game will be televised nationally on ESPN at 7 p.m. The entire CAA Men's Basketball Championship will also be broadcast nationally on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 119. In Richmond, ESPN Radio 950 AM will air the games. W&M fans can follow all the Tribe action on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. Fans can also follow W&M men's basketball live on the Web at TribeAthletics.com.

Complete CAA Awards List (PDF)