Tide's Dudley Named Official Naismith Preseason Candidate
10/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA – The 2002 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, University of Alabama senior power forward Erwin Dudley, is among the 30 players selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club as a preseason candidate for the 2002-03 Naismith college basketball player of the year award.
The Naismith awards program has been honoring college basketball's top players for 35 years and is founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Selection is made by the organization's board that includes basketball coaches, sportswriters and basketball analysts.
Joining Dudley on the preseason list from the SEC are Florida's Matt Bonner and Brett Nelson, Georgia's Jarvis Hayes and Kentucky's Keith Bogans. Also among the 30 are Arizona's Luke Walton and Jason Gardner; Kansas' Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, Maryland's Steve Blake, Brandin Knight of Pittsburgh, Boston College's Troy Bell, Georgetown's Mike Sweetney, Notre Dame's Chris Thomas, Miami's Darius Rice, Illinois' Brian Cook, Duke's Chris Duhon, Texas Tech's Andre Emmett, Texas's T.J. Ford, Louisville's Reece Gaines, Wake Forest's Josh Howard, UCLA's Jason Kapono, Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus, Oklahoma's Hollis Price, Minnesota's Rick Rickert, Oregon's Luke Ridnour, Marquette's Dwayne Wade, Virginia's Travis Watson and Xavier's David West.
