Withey Named Candidate for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award

All-America candidate up for another honor for the upcoming season

Oct. 31, 2012

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Kansas center Jeff Withey has been selected as one of 30 men’s candidates for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate basketball, award organizers announced Wednesday.

Sixty NCAA men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court were selected as candidates. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as a NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of candidates is below. KU’s Angel Goodrich is on the 30 women’s candidates.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

On schedule to graduate with a degree in American studies, Withey is a preseason Associated Press All-America honorable mention selection who is coming off a sensational junior season where he set the Kansas and Big 12 single-season blocked shots record with 140. Included was an NCAA Tournament record 31 blocked shots for the 2012 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. Withey, from San Diego, Calif., participates in many community functions including KU’s READ program, which encourages youth to read. He takes time to sign autographs following every home contest to the approximately 70-100 fans outside KU’s locker and participates in KU’s annual Wilt Chamberlain Special Olympic Clinic in late January. He and his teammates autograph approximately 1,500 basketball every year with proceeds from the sales going to local charities. Withey also participates Kansas men’s basketball annual shopping for needy families during the holiday season and has also visited elementary schools in Lawrence promoting good health.

Historically, Kansas has been well represented in the Senior CLASS Award. In 2005, Jayhawk Wayne Simien won the award which began in 2001. Other Kansas players named to the Senior CLASS Award First Team, which consists of five players, include Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich in 2003 and Tyrel Reed in 2011.

The men’s Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2013 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta April 6 and 8, while the women’s winner will be announced during the NCAA Women’s Final Four® in New Orleans April 7 and 9.

The candidate classes will be narrowed to 10 men’s and 10 women’s finalists midway through the regular season, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one men’s finalist and one women’s finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

Men’s Candidates

God’sgift Achiuwa, St. John’s (N.Y.)

O.D. Anosike, Siena

Ben Averkamp, Loyola (Chicago)

Brian Barbour, Columbia

Jared Berggren, Wisconsin

Isaiah Canaan, Murray State

Drew Crawford, Northwestern

Matthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary’s

Tim Frazier, Penn State

Mike Groselle, The Citadel

C.J. Harris, Wake Forest

Jordan Hulls, Indiana

Gabe Knutson, Lehigh

JP Kuhlman, Davidson

Andrew Lawrence, Charleston

Jonathan Lee, Northeastern

Scott Martin, Notre Dame

C.J. McCollum, Lehigh

Brock Motum, Washington State

Mike Muscala, Bucknell

Robert Olson, Loyola (Maryland)

Brandon Paul, Illinois

Mason Plumlee, Duke

Colt Ryan, Evansville

Peyton Siva, Louisville

Andrew Smith, Butler

Michael Snaer, Florida State

Marc Trasolini, Santa Clara

Jeff Withey, KANSAS

Nate Wolters, South Dakota State

Women’s Candidates

Kayla Alexander, Syracuse

Anne Marie Armstrong, Georgia

Alex Bentley, Penn State

Brittany Chambers, Kansas State

Layshia Clarendon, California

Tiffany Clarke, Vanderbilt

Elena Delle Donne, Delaware

Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame

Caroline Durbin, New Mexico

Shante Evans, Hofstra

Jennifer George, Florida

Angel Goodrich, KANSAS

Lily Grenci, Siena

Brittney Griner, Baylor

Whitney Hand, Oklahoma

Tayler Hill, Ohio State

Jacqui Kalin, Northern Iowa

Marissa Kastanek, North Carolina State

Kevi Luper, Oral Roberts

Anna Martin, DePaul

A’dia Mathies, Kentucky

Victoria McGowan, Stetson

Drey Mingo, Purdue

Ta’Kenya Nixon, Eastern Illinois

Kaela Oakes, Idaho State

Chelsea Poppens, Iowa State

Jaime Printy, Iowa

Sugar Rodgers, Georgetown

Rachel Semansky, Montana State

Naama Shafir, Toledo

ABOUT THE AWARD

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The award program is designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards a senior season can bring. Premier Sports Management manages the award.

ABOUT THE NCAA

The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit NCAA.org and NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.

NCAA and its marks are licensed by or trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

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