ST. LOUIS (USBWA) The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected five outstanding first-year players as finalists for the 2012 Wayman Tisdale Award, to be presented to the men's National Freshman of the Year at a gala banquet on Mon., April 16 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The announcement of the winner will come at the USBWA College Basketball Awards Breakfast on Fri., March 30 in New Orleans in conjunction with the NCAA Men's Final Four.
Kentucky teammates Anthony Davis (Chicago, Ill.) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Somerdale, N.J.) join Duke's Austin Rivers (Winter Park, Fla), Washington's Tony Wroten (Seattle, Wash.) and Indiana's Cody Zeller (Washington, Ind.) as the 2012 Wayman Tisdale Award finalists.
The USBWA will also present the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Award and the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award at the awards breakfast in New Orleans, which will also pay tribute to the legendary LSU coach Dale Brown and his 1981 and '86 NCAA Final Four teams.
The USBWA has chosen a national freshman of the year since the 1988-89 season when LSU's Chris Jackson was the recipient. Last season, Ohio State's Jared Sullinger became the winner of the first Wayman Tisdale Award. Other previous winners of the award include Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd and Chris Webber.
The Tisdale Award winner will receive a statuette designed by nationally-recognized sculptor Shan Gray. The April 16 banquet will also honor Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as the recipient of the Wayman Tisdale Humanitarian Award.
The late Wayman Tisdale was a three-time USBWA All-American at the University of Oklahoma. Following a stint on the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team, he played 12 seasons in the NBA before retiring in 1997 to focus on a blossoming jazz music career. In March 2007, he was diagnosed with cancer and, following a courageous and difficult battle that included the amputation of his right leg in 2008, he passed away in May 2009.
The Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award presented by Devon is produced by Access Sports, an Oklahoma City-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to supporting various charitable causes, including funding prosthetic devices for needy individuals through the Wayman L. Tisdale Foundation, educational scholarships through the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and funding of youth basketball programs throughout the state of Oklahoma through Wayman's Lightning Basketball League.
Tickets and sponsorship information for the April 16 event are available at the Tisdale Award website, access-sports.net, or by contacting Scott Hill (405-749-1515, scott.hill@access-sports.net). For more information on the USBWA Awards Breakfast in New Orleans, including purchasing tickets, visit usbwa.com.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Joe Mitch at 314-444-4325.