Mississippi State junior all-America candidate Jamont Gordon has been named as one of 16 national finalists for the 2008 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford, an honor presented annually to the nation's top collegiate point guard. The announcement was made Thursday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame located in Springfield, Mass.
The 16 national finalists were chosen from a pool of over 60 top candidates from NCAA Division I, II and III institutions across the country. This year's finalists were selected by screening committees comprised of members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) representing all three divisions of collegiate basketball.
A native of Nashville, Gordon currently ranks fifth in the SEC in scoring (17.9 ppg), sixth in assists (4.2 apg) and 15th in rebounding (6.2 rpg) for all games. In conference action, he stands tied for sixth in scoring (18.8 ppg), seventh in both three-point field-goal percentage (.417) and made 3-pointers per SEC game (2.50/gm), and 10th in field-goal percentage (.506).
Averaging 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per outing while having started all 85 games of his Mississippi State career, Gordon presently stands 10th on the school's all-time scoring chart with 1,332 career points, fifth with 400 career assists and 18th with 576 career rebounds. The two-time all-SEC standout has scored in double figures in 76 of 85 career MSU outings, including 20 games of 20 or more points (nine this season).
Having also been recently named to the top 30 midseason candidate listing of the prestigious John R. Wooden Award, Gordon is joined among this year's Bob Cousy Award nominees by South Carolina's Devan Downey as the SEC's lone pair of candidates. Also among this year's NCAA Division I finalists are DJ Augustin (Texas), Darren Collison (UCLA), Mike Green (Butler), Dominic James (Marquette), Ty Lawson (North Carolina), Eric Maynor (VCU), Tyrese Rice (Boston College), Brian Roberts (Dayton), Derrick Rose (Memphis), and Sean Singletary (Virginia).
College basketball fans nationwide will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite candidate online at www.cousyaward.com. The top vote-getter from the online poll will receive the "fan vote", representing one vote to be cast by the Blue Ribbon committee selecting the award winner. The Blue Ribbon committee is comprised of Hall of Famers, including Bob Cousy, Dean Smith and Jim Calhoun, as well as college coaches from Divisions I, II and III, members of the media, and additional college basketball experts and celebrities.
The 2008 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford winner will be announced at the NCAA Men's Final Four in San Antonio, Texas on Monday, April 7.
Previous winners of the Bob Cousy Award include Acie Law IV of Texas A&M (2007), Dee Brown from Illinois (2006), Raymond Felton of North Carolina (2005), and Jameer Nelson from Saint Joseph's (2004).