Temple University Athletics
TEMPLE'S LYNN GREER PRE-SEASON CANDIDATE FOR NAISMITH COLLEGE BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
10.15.01 | Men's Basketball
Duke guard Jason Williams heads the list of the pre-season candidates for the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award. Casey Jacobsen (Stanford) and Frank Williams (Illinois) were the second and third leading vote-getters, respectively, among the men's pre-season candidates.
The Naismith Awards program, now in its 34th year, honors the outstanding college basketball players in the nation. The award program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of student-athletes in basketball.
The candidates were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectors comprised of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball analysts. Members of the board were asked to name top players who are most likely to be in contention for the award.
The pre-season candidates for the Naismith Award are as follows:
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 Jacobsen, Stanford Jared Jeffries, Indiana
Jason Kapono, UCLA Chris Marcus, Western Kentucky
Brett Nelson, Florida Marvin O'Connor, Saint Joseph's
Chris Owens, Texas Tayshawn Prince, Kentucky
Luke Recker, Kentucky Darius Rice, Miami -- FL
Kareem Rush, Missouri David West, Xavier
Frank Williams, Illinois Jason Williams, Duke
Last year's Naismith Award recipient was Shane Battier of Duke University. The first recipient of the Naismith Award was Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) of UCLA in 1969.
Other college player of the year recipients include many NBA standouts such as Michael Jordon, Larry Bird, Bill Walton, Patrick Ewing and Christian Laettner.
