The AP is the fourth national organization to recognize the Hilltopper senior, as he has also been named first-team Mid-Major All-America by CollegeInsider.com, was a second-team Mid-Major All-America choice of FoxSports.com and earned first-team all-District 7 accolades from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Winchester, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound native of Austin, Ind., was the 2006 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and a first-team all-league selection, and he was also named CollegeInsider.com’s conference Player of the Year. A two-time Sun Belt Player of the Week, Winchester was voted to the league’s all-tournament team as well.
He was second in the SBC with a career-high 18.6 points per contest — his 576 points were the eighth most scored by a WKU senior — and ranked 14th in the conference with 5.6 rebounds per game. Winchester finished 2005-06 fourth in the Sun Belt with 2.61 three-pointers per contest, as his 81 treys were the second-highest season total in school history, and was also 11th with a 40.9 three-point field goal percentage. He was also among the top 15 in the league with a 76.2 free-throw percentage (seventh), 47.3 field-goal percentage and 2.52 assists per outing (15th in both).
Winchester ended his career seventh on the WKU all-time scoring list with 1,732 points and set the school career record with 247 threes. He finished seventh in the Sun Belt’s career record book in treys and 14th in scoring.
The guard also is the school’s all-time leader with a career free-throw mark of 81 percent, and his 41.6 three-point field-goal percentage stands second on WKU’s career record list.
His efforts helped the Toppers finish 23-8 in 2005-06, including winning the Sun Belt East Division title with a 12-2 mark. WKU advanced to national postseason play for the fifth time in the last six seasons after earning an invite to the NIT.
Winchester is the third Hilltopper to be recognized by the AP in the last six years — Chris Marcus was an honorable mention selection in both 2001 and ’02, and Mike Wells was chosen honorable mention in 2004.
