Dec. 18, 2008
ATLANTA - Baylor men's basketball senior guard Curtis Jerrells (Austin, Texas) is one of 50 student-athletes named to the 2008-09 Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List Thursday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Jerrells is one of five Big 12 players on the preseason list, joining Texas' A.J. Abrams and Damion James, Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and Kansas' Sherron Collins - all five were Preseason All-Big 12 selections in October.
He is currently eighth all-time at Baylor with 1,328 career points and needs three points to move into seventh place, while scoring in double figures in 11 straight games. The John R. Wooden Award candidate and 2008 All-Big 12 first-team pick is second on the team with 15.9 points and leads the squad with nearly six assists per game. Jerrells, who has started all 89 games since arriving at BU, ranks in the career top 10 of 11 major categories and is on pace to become just the second player in school history with 1,000 points, 400 assists and 100 steals.
The watch list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2008-09 college basketball season. The watch list does not include incoming freshmen, although those student-athletes will be considered in the first vote in February 2009. The Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T will be awarded at the 2009 NCAA Men's Final Four in Detroit, Mich.
"The talent level across all conferences continues to impress and that will create an even greater challenge for our voting academy when it comes time to select the winner in April," Atlanta Tipoff Club president Gary Stokan said. "And we look forward to this special season, our 40th anniversary of the most prestigious trophy in all of college basketball."
For the sixth consecutive season, presenting sponsor AT&T will once again set the standard in allowing fans to participate in determining this year's winner. Through the power and ease of text messaging, fan voting will account for an unprecedented 25 percent of the final results - more than any other national college basketball award. At the beginning of February, CBS' "AT&T at the Half" will feature a weekly Naismith Trophy update highlighting the players in contention. In February, the Naismith Trophy voting academy, comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from across the country, will narrow its early season list to the Top 30 players in the nation. Those players, and others who distinguish themselves throughout the season, will be eligible for the final ballot in March.
ABOUT THE ATLANTA TIPOFF CLUB
The Atlanta Tipoff Club, an Atlanta Sports Council property, is committed to promoting the game of basketball and recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of those who make the game so exciting. The Atlanta Tipoff Club, founded in 1956, has presented the Naismith Trophy since UCLA's Lew Alcindor first won the award in 1969. Old Dominion's Anne Donovan won the inaugural Women's Naismith Trophy in 1983. The Naismith Award has become an emblem of excellence for the game, recognizing the Men's and Women's College Basketball Player of the Year, Men's and Women's College Basketball Coach of the Year, as well as awards for outstanding achievement in high school basketball, officiating and contribution to the game.
