The Los Angeles Clippers point guard will have his collegiate jersey retired during his alma mater Wake Forest’s game on March 2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Wake Forest University today announced that it will retire Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul’s No. 3 jersey at a halftime ceremony during the Deamon Deacons game against the Maryland Terrapins on March 2.

Paul will become the 11th jersey to be retired by the Winston-Salem, N.C. school and the first since Josh Howard’s No. 5 in 2004.

During his two seasons at the ACC school playing under the late Skip Prosser, Paul was the conference’s rookie of the year in 2003-04 and propelled Wake Forest to a No. 1 national ranking the following season, the first in the school’s history.

In addition to being named ACC Rookie of the Year, CP3 made Third Team All-ACC, was an All-American Honorable Mention, and was named National Freshman of the Year by several publications as he averaged 14.8 points and 5.9 assists a game and helped the Demon Deacons reach the Sweet Sixteen of the 2004 NCAA Tournament before losing to St. Joseph’s.

Paul also broke five Wake Forest freshman records: three-point percentage, free throws, free throw percentage, assists and steals.

Paul also earned ACC All-Defensive Team honors during his time at Wake and was among the consensus First Team All-Americans in his sophomore year. He was also a named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team with a 3.21 grade point average as a third-term selection.

By the time he declared for the 2005 NBA Draft as a sophomore, he had finished near the top of almost every offensive category at Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons went 48–16 (.750) in games Paul played in, and Paul finished his collegiate career ranked second among Wake Forest’s all-time career leaders for 3-point shooting percentage (.469), and 7th in assists and steals.

Paul sat out tonight’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a bruised right kneecap. It will be the fifth straight game he’s missed and the eighth overall this season as a result of the injury, which occurred on Jan. 12 when he collided with the Orlando Magic’s J.J. Reddick.

The Los Angeles Clippers head coach was named the NBA’s Coach of the Month for December. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro was named the Western Conference Coach of the Month for December the NBA announced today. Del Negro was what we can only assume a unanimous choice after the Clippers went undefeated.

From the NBA’s announcement:

Del Negro led the Clippers to a perfect 16-0 record in December, including wins over the Boston Celtics and three wins over the Utah Jazz. The Clippers’ franchise-best 17-game winning streak, which included the sixteen December wins, ended with their first game in January. The streak stands as the longest in the NBA since the 2008 season when Boston won 19 consecutive games.

Today’s announcement also should signify Del Negro as a serious candidate for Coach of the Year if his team continues its winning ways. For a coach who’s previously been widely (and unfairly) maligned for being a poor game manager and a weak Xs and Os tactician, Del Negro has this feather in his cap to silence the critics–at least for now.

Of course, it’s harder to select coaching honors because there are fewer statistical metrics like players have to determine who’s the best, so wins will always be the most crucial factor to consider. Del Negro’s players virtually assured their coach of the monthly honor by going undefeated.

Del Negro has had some history with going undefeated for an entire calendar month. He was the starting point guard on the 1995-96 San Antonio Spurs that went 16-0 in March.

It was also announced today by the league that Chris Paul was named the Western Conference Player of the Month for December.