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Beasley, Douglas-Roberts, Hansbrough and Love Named Naismith Men's College Player of the Year Finalists
March 25, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 25, 2008
ATLANTA - Two juniors and two freshmen headline the list of finalists for the 2008 Naismith Men's College Player of the Year Award presented by AT&T the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today. Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Chris Douglas-Roberts (Memphis), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina) and Kevin Love (UCLA) make up the final ballot.
CBS Sports will profile the four Naismith Trophy finalists during its coverage of the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship starting with the first games of the NCAA ® Sweet 16® on March 27.
"There is such a strong correlation between these finalists and season's their schools are having," said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Tipoff Club president. "And each has achieved tremendous success which is difficult to do with all of the expectations placed upon them. We know any one of them would be a deserving Naismith winner."
"This is the fourth straight year that AT&T has had the honor of giving fans a voice in selecting the winner of the prestigious Naismith Trophy," said Tim McGhee, director of National Sponsorships for AT&T. "These four athletes all had outstanding seasons, and we're expecting this to be a really tight contest."
Finalists were chosen through a vote by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, who narrowed the mid-season list of 30 candidates down to the final four. The Board, which is comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country, based its criteria on player performances this season.
The four finalists will attend the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game awards program on Sunday, April 6 at the 2008 Men's Final Four in San Antonio where the winner will be presented with the Naismith Trophy as the 2008 Men's College Player of the Year. CBS will feature the winner during halftime of its coverage of the NCAA Men's Championship game on Monday, April 7.
Again this year, AT&T will give fans an unprecedented voice in selecting the winner. Fan voting, through the power and ease of text messaging, will account for 25 percent of the selection process. Fans can text message "VOTE" to "87654" to receive the final ballot and participate in the voting process. Voting for the Naismith Trophy Women's College Basketball Player of the Year will end on Saturday, April 5, 2008, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. AT&T is making the voting open to other wireless carriers allowing even more fans to participate. Other wireless carriers must opt-in for their subscribers to participate.
