Josh Akognon is poised to become one of the most outstanding players in Cal State Fullerton history... consensus pre-season first-team All-Big West Conference selection and tabbed player of the year by some ... phenomenal shooter with NBA range who should only minimally be affected by outward movement of th 3-point line for this season... made himself available for the 2008 professional draft but opted out after not employing an agent... will see time at point guard this season... worked extremely hard in the off-season on strength and conditioning... could be one of the leading scorers in the nation given his ability and the inexperienced lineup around him... transferred away from a deliberate Washington State offensive scheme to join the up-tempo Titans... WSU averaged 58 points in an 11-17 2005-06 season while the Titans averaged 79.0, 82.1 and 81.8 points the past three seasons while going 60-32... on the Titans' Labor Day Weekend tour to British Columbia he averaged 26 points.

CAL STATE FULLERTON: Selected the Outstanding Player of the Big West Conference Tournament in 2008 after leading the champion Titans in scoring in all three games with totals of 20, 24 and 23 points... followed that up with a 31-point effort in the NCAA Tournament vs. defensive-minded Wisconsin... part of his motivation was receiving only second-team All-Big West recognition despite being picked to the second team of NABC District 15 with UCSB's Alex Harris, Arizona's Chase Budinger, New Mexico State's Justin Hawkins and UNLV's Wink Adams (the first team was Kevin Love and Darren Collison of UCLA, O. J. Mayo of USC, Jerryd Bayless of Arizona and James Harden of Arizona State)... shared CSF's MVP Award with Scott Cutley and Frank Robinson... Akognon's second 3-pointer of the Feb. 27 CSUN game was No. 90 of the season to break Cal State Fullerton's single-season record of 89 by Don Leary in 1992-93 and he finished with 116, fourth most in Big West history... in that same Feb. 27 game he made two first-half free throws to run his streak to 37 consecutive makes to tie Kevin Henderson's CSF record set in 1985-86... but he missed his only try of the second half to avoid setting a new standard... at .899 (fourth-best in Big West history) he broke Joe Small's CSF free-throw percentage record of .876 in 1991-92 and finished seventh in the nation... Akognon made four or more treys in a game 18 times with a best of seven on three occasions... he was the Big West leader in 3-point baskets (3.63 per game) as well as free-throw percentage and he was the No. 3 scorer at 20.2 ppg... he scored 30 or more points five times and only Davidson's Stephen Curry (33) scored more points against Wisconsin last season... missed the UC Riverside game on Jan. 23 due to a finger injury.

WASHINGTON STATE: Shooting guard who averaged 10.3 points to lead the Cougars in scoring in 2005-06, playing in all 28 games and starting 13 times... shot 37 percent (55 of 148) from the 3-point line and 80 percent (35 of 44) from the free-throw line... ranked eighth in the Pac-10 in 3-point field goals made (55 in 28 games, 1.96 per game)... he scored 27 points including a 3-pointer with 16 seconds to play to beat No. 10-ranked Washington on Jan. 7 and had 25 points - all in the second half - in a 63-61 loss to No. 11-ranked UCLA on Jan. 12... scored 16 points in a 3-minute span of the second half in a 60-47 victory over Southern California on Feb. 11 to earn the first 2006 "Pontiac Pac-10 Game Changing Performance"... scored 25 points on Nov. 19 vs. Big West Conference member UC Riverside... also averaged 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists playing about 24 minutes per game... tabbed "most underrated player in the Pac-10" by Sports Illustrated... as a freshman in 2004-05 he appeared in 27 games off the bench and averaged 3.9 points for a team that went 12-16 (7-11)... had a high of 15 points vs. UCLA on Jan. 26... scored 12 points against No. 25-ranked Gonzaga.

2006 WORLD BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Averaged 11 minutes per game off the bench for Nigeria, which went 2-4 (beat Serbia & Montenegro and Lebanon; lost to Venezuela, France, Argentina and Germany) in Tokyo in August of 2006 ... played (Akognon: continued from pg. 7)...

against Manu Ginobli and Dirk Nowitzki among other notables...scored a total of 13 points with a high of 5 vs. Argentina... had 5 assists in an 82-75 win over Serbia & Montenegro.

CASA GRANDE HIGH SCHOOL: Selected most valuable player of both the Sonoma County League and the Redwood Empire Section in 2004 for Coach Jeremy Russotti.... played point guard... named Northern California Div. II Player of the Year... first-team Div. II all-state selection... led the Bay Area and ranked fifth in California in scoring with 30 points per game... had six games with 40 or more points including a 54-point effort in his next to last game... also averaged 7.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists... nominated for the McDonald's All-America team... as a junior was first-team all-league and second-team All-Bay Area... didn't play organized basketball until his freshman year in high school.

PERSONAL: Born on Feb. 10, 1986, in Greenbrae, California... parents are Emmanuel and Alfreda Akognon of Petaluma... has an older brother, (Shola) and a younger sister (Shonte)... sports management major who hopes to become a coach... played travel ball for the Oakland Soldiers and NorCal Elite... chose Fullerton because of the players, coaches and style of play... full name is Joshua Emmanuel Akognon.