Oct. 16, 2001
ATLANTA, GA – Jason Williams of DukeUniversity and Sue Bird from University of Connecticut head the listof pre-season candidates for the 2001-2002 Naismith CollegeBasketball Player of the Year Awards. Jackie Bradford, President ofthe Atlanta Tipoff Club, announced the candidates today.
Williams, a 6’2″, Junior, Guard, from Plainfield, NJ, isthe nation’s 12th leading returning scorer with 1,333 career points.He is averaging 18.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.2 stealsin his career. Jason has scored double figures in 66 of 73 games andhas eight career double-doubles. Williams set Duke’s single-seasonscoring record with 841 points which had stood at 831 since 1951.
Bird, the 5’9″, Senior, Guard, from Syossett, NY, is averaging 10.4points, 4.5 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in her career. She has herteam in minutes played with 27.7 per game. Bird is third at UConnfor most assists in a season with 169. Sue recorded a career high inthree-pointers with five in a game last season.
Casey Jacobsen (Stanford) and Frank Williams (Illinois) were thesecond and third-leading vote-getters, respectively, among the men’spre-season Naismith candidates, while Chantelle Anderson (Vanderbilt)and LaToya Thomas (Mississippi State) rounded out the top-threecandidates for women.
The Naismith Awards program, now in its 34th year, honors theoutstanding college basketball players in the United States. Theawards program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, anorganization dedicated to recognizing the achievements ofstudent-athletes in basketball.
The candidates were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectorscomprised of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketballanalysts. Members of the board were asked to name top male andfemale players who are most likely to be in contention for the award.
“Both the men’s and women’s fields, from top to bottom, are extremelytalented,” said Bradford. “The race for the Naismith Award will onceagain be very competitive and exciting.”
The pre-season candidates for the Naismith Awards, listed inalphabetical order, are as follows:
2001-02 Pre-Season Naismith Candidates
Male Candidates
Lonny Baxter, Maryland
Troy Bell, Boston College
LaVell Blanchard, Michigan
Keith Bogans, Kentucky
Carlos Boozer, Duke
Caron Butler, Connecticut
Nick Collison, Kansas
Sam Clancy, USC
Juan Dixon, Maryland
Chris Duhon, Duke
Mike Dunleavy, Duke
Melvin Ely, Fresno State
Reggie Evans, Iowa
Drew Gooden, Kansas
Lynn Greer, Temple
Udonis Haslem, Florida
Casey Jacobson, Stanford
Jared Jeffries, Indiana
Jason Kapono, UCLA
Chris Marcus, Western Kentucky
Brett Nelson, Florida
Marvin O’Conner, St. Joseph’s
Chris Owens, Texas
Tayshaun Prince, Kentucky
Luke Recker, Iowa
Darius Rice, Miami – FL
Kareem Rush, Missouri
David West, Xavier
Frank Williams, Illinois
Jason Williams, Duke
Female Candidates
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
Alana Beard, Duke
Lucienne Berthieu, Old Dominion
Sue Bird, Connecticut
Swin Cash, Connecticut
LaNeishea Caufield, Oklahoma
Danielle Crockrom, Baylor
Stacey Dales, Oklahoma
Chrissy Floyd, Clemson
Catrina Frierson, Louisiana Tech
Deanna Jackson, UAB
Gwen Jackson, Tennessee
Sheila Lambert, Baylor
Kara Lawson, Tennessee
Takeisha Lewis, Louisiana Tech
Brandi McCain, Florida
Tawana McDonald, Georgia
Plenette Pierson, Texas Tech
Nicole Powell, Stanford
Alicia Ratay, Notre Dame
Michelle Snow, Tennessee
Diana Taurasi, Connecticut
Nikki Teasley, North Carolina
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State
Ayana Walker, Louisiana Tech
Angie Welle, Iowa State
Tamika Williams, Connecticut
Shaquala Williams, Oregon
Shereka Wright, Purdue
DeTrina White, LSU
Last year’s Naismith Award recipients were Shane Battier (DukeUniversity) and Ruth Riley (University of Notre Dame). The firstrecipient of the male Naismith Award was Lew Alcindor (KareemAbdul-Jabbar) of UCLA in 1969. Other college player of the yearrecipients include many NBA standouts such as Bill Walton, LarryBird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Christian Laettner. Thewomen’s Naismith Award, first presented in 1983 to Anne Donovan ofOld Dominion, includes recipients such as three-time winner CherylMiller of USC, two-time honorees Clarissa Davis of Texas, ChamiqueHoldsclaw of Tennessee and Dawn Staley of Virginia.
Please visit our website atwww.naismithawards.com for moreinformation on our awards.
