Vanderbilt’s Chantelle Anderson Leads List of Naismith Candidates

NASHVILLE, TENN. - Senior center Chantelle Anderson leads the list of pre-season candidates for the 2002-03 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award. Jackie Bradford, President of the Atlanta Tipoff Club, announced the candidates. Nine players from the Southeastern Conference are on the list.

The Naismith Awards program, now in its 35th year, honors the outstanding college basketball players in the United States.  The awards 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 male and female 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 extremely talented," Bradford said.  “The race for the Naismith Award will once again be very competitive and exciting.”   

Last year’s Naismith Award recipients were Jason Williams (Duke University) and Sue Bird (University of Connecticut).  The first recipient of the male 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 Bill Walton, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Christian Laettner.  The women’s Naismith Award, first presented in 1983 to Anne Donovan of Old Dominion, includes recipients such as three-time winner Cheryl Miller of USC, two-time honorees Clarissa Davis of Texas, Chamique Holdsclaw of Tennessee and Dawn Staley of Virginia.

The pre-season candidates for the Naismith Awards, listed in alphabetical order, are as follows:

2002-03 Naismith Pre-Season Candidates

Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
Jacqueline Batteast, Notre Dame
Alana Beard, Duke
Kara Braxton, Georgia
Coretta Brown, North Carolina
Shameka Christon, Arkansas
Crissy Floyd, Clemson
Catrina Frierson, Louisiana Tech
Vanessa Hayden, Florida
Caton Hill, Oklahoma
Ebony Hoffman, USC (CA)                                         
Nicole Ohlde, Kansas State                                         
Gwen Jackson, Tennessee
Temeka Johnson, LSU
Kara Lawson, Tennessee
Kelly Mazzante, Penn State
Jocelyn Penn, USC (SC)
Nicole Powell, Stanford
Alicia Ratay, Notre Dame
Aiysha Smith, LSU
Stacy Stephens, Texas
Brianne Stepherson, Boston College
Diana Taurasi, Connecticut
Brandi Teamer, Virginia
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State
Iciss Tillis, Duke
Kendra Wecker, KSU
Lindsay Whalen, Minnesota
Lindsey Wilson, Iowa State
Shereka Wright, Purdue