Allan Ray

Infobox Euroleague Player
name = Allan Ray


caption =
position = Shooting guard
nickname =
height_ft = 6
height_in = 2
weight_lb = 205
league = Serie A
team = Lottomatica Roma
nationality = American
birth_date = birth date and age|1984|6|17
birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City
college = Villanova
highschool = St. Raymond High School for Boys
draft = Undrafted
draft_year = 2006
draft_team =
career_start = 2006
former_teams = Boston Celtics (2006–2007)
awards =

Allan Ray (born June 17 1984 in The Bronx, New York) is an American professional basketball player formerly with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association and currently signed on to play with Italian Serie A club Lottomatica Roma for the 2007-2008 season. He played college basketball for four years at Villanova University.

College career

Allan was recruited out of St. Raymond High School-widely considered superior to all the local public schools in New York City, by coach Jay Wright, he committed to the Wildcats in 2001, along with three other players that made up a highly praised recruiting class. Along with Randy Foye, Jason Fraser, Michael Claxton, and Curtis Sumpter, Ray was part of a class proclaimed as the players to lead the Wildcats back to a championship. Ray reached the Elite Eight of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, playing with the other three starters in the four-guard offense: Mike Nardi, Kyle Lowry, and Randy Foye.

Ray's career at Villanova has also slightly been hampered by injuries, but nothing that kept him from scoring 2,000 points as a Wildcat. His freshman season, he was a key contributor. He had 16 points in his Wildcat debut against Marquette on November 15, 2002. As a sophomore he averaged 17.3 points per game.

In his junior season, Ray was named second team all Big East and led the Wildcats in scoring with 16.2 ppg. That year, he also led Villanova to a Sweet 16 where they lost to eventual national champion North Carolina by one point.

His senior season was arguably Ray's best season as a college player when he averaged 19.1 ppg. Along with Foye, they made up one of the best guard duos in the country. Ray is known as a streaky, but great, three-point shooter, and is excellent, like his teammate, at creating his own shot. At 6-2 and 195 pounds, he is an average-sized guard.

Villanova tied for the Big East regular-season championship with Uconn and split their two games with the Huskies, winning the one played at home, in what some called the biggest Villanova win in over 20 years. Their final Big East regular-season record was 14-2 in what some called the toughest conference ever. Overall, their record was 28-5. In 2006, Ray was named to the Big East first team, along with teammate Randy Foye, who was given the honor of Big East Player of the Year.

A scary moment occurred during the 2006 Big East Tournament when Ray was poked in the eye by Carl Krauser during the semifinal game. His vision apparently left him for a period of time and his eyeball had seemed to come loose from the socket, leading most to believe it was an extremely serious injury. However, his vision returned and it turned out to be only soft tissue damage. He was able to play less than a week later in the NCAA tournament, without goggles. In his first game back, he led Villanova in scoring. While on the video it appeared as though his eye came loose from the socket, his eyelid actually went behind his eye giving off the impression of his eye coming loose.

After combining for 44 points in Villanova's first two 2006 NCAA Tournament games against Monmouth and Arizona, Ray struggled in Villanova's last two games. He scored just 20 points on 8-34 shooting in his last two games as a Wildcat.

NBA career

Ray was not drafted in the 2006 NBA Draft, surprising many Big East fans and some NBA experts. On July 6, 2006, he was signed as a free agent by the Boston Celtics. During the last two months of the season, Ray began receiving extended playing time with the Celtics due to the many injuries on the team, and had two 22-point games and three others where he scored 20, 18 and 17 points. Ray asked to be waived by the Celtics on July 27, 2007, in pursuit of 2 Million dollar contract in Italy.

External links

* [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/allan_ray/index.html?nav=page Allan Ray player profile] @ NBA.com
* [http://www.manlyweb.com/sports/injuries/basketball/allan-ray-eye-injury.htm Allan Ray's eye injury suffered at Big East Tournament (graphic)]