Purdue player receives Naismith nomination

By Purdue Sports Information

Purdue women's basketball player Shereka Wright has been named a 2001-02 Naismith preseason candidate.

The Naismith Award is given annually to the nation’s best basketball player. The preseason favorite is Sue Bird of Connecticut. Duke’s Jason Williams is the men’s favorite.

Chantelle Anderson of Vanderbilt and LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State rounded out the top three candidates for women.

A 5-foot-10 forward, Wright averaged 9.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game as a freshman, helping lead the Boilermakers to a Big Ten championship and NCAA runner-up finish.

The Copperas Cove, Texas, native was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team and the NCAA Women’s Final Four All-Tournament team. Last summer, Wright won a gold medal with the USA Basketball Women’s World University Games Team, averaging 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Wright is one of only four sophomores on the 30-player Naismith list. The others are Duke’s Alana Beard, Stanford’s Nicole Powell and Connecticut’s Diana Taurasi. Wright is the only player from the Big Ten on the list.

The Naismith Awards program, now in its 34th 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 made up 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," said Jackie Bradford, president of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. "The race for the Naismith Award will once again be very competitive and exciting."

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Purdue player receives Naismith nomination

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