The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has named Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger as the winner of the 2011 Wayman Tisdale Award, which is given to the national Freshman of the Year.
Kentucky’s dynamic duo of Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight were named to the USBWA Freshman All-America Team. Jones and Knight are joined on the First Team by Sullinger, Harrison Barnes of North Carolina and Tristan Thompson of Texas.
Here is an excerpt of the official release:
[QUOTE]ST. LOUIS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger as the winner of the 2011 Wayman Tisdale Award as the men’s National Freshman of the Year. Sullinger will be honored at a gala banquet on Mon., April 11 at the Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma City. Sullinger will also be recognized at the USBWA Awards Breakfast on Fri., April 1 in Houston in conjunction with the NCAA Men’s Final Four.
Sullinger, a first-team USBWA All-American and the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year, has led Ohio State to a 32-2 record, the Big Ten regular-season and conference tournament championships and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The 6-9 forward from Columbus, Ohio, has started all 34 games this season and has led the team with 17.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while shooting 53.6 percent from the field. Four times this season Sullinger has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week. In 31 of the Buckeyes’ 34 games, he has scored in double figures while recording 17 double-doubles. His 40-point game on Dec. 9 vs. IUPUI is a school freshman record.
Sullinger is just the second player from the Big Ten to win the USBWA’s National Freshman of the Year Award, joining Michigan’s Chris Webber in 1992.
Also, for the first time, the USBWA has selected a Freshman All-America Team. In addition to Sullinger, the first team includes Harrison Barnes (North Carolina), Terrence Jones (Kentucky), Brandon Knight (Kentucky) and Tristan Thompson (Texas). Included on the the second team are Tobias Harris (Tennessee), Perry Jones III (Baylor), Cory Joseph (Texas), Kendall Marshall (North Carolina) and Doug McDermott (Creighton).
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[URL=”http://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2011/tisdale110315.html”][COLOR=#0d1db8]Complete Release[/COLOR][/URL]
