March 16, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – The honors continue for Notre Dame sophomore Luke Harangody (Schererville, Ind.). The 2008 BIG EAST Player of the Year is among 24 players on the John R. Wooden Award ballot that will be announced on Saturday, April 12 during a special ceremony at The Los Angeles Athletic Club.
A panel of more than 1,000 voters, comprised of sports media members and college basketball experts from around the nation will be voting on the award and have until March 31 to cast their ballots. All players on the ballot have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA.
Others named to the ballot are: Ryan Anderson (California), D.J. Augustin (Texas), Jerryd Bayless (Arizona), Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Darren Collison (UCLA), Stephen Curry (Davidson), Chris Douglas-Roberts (Memphis), Shan Foster (Vanderbilt), Eric Gordon (Indiana), Jamont Gordon (Mississippi State), Mike Green (Butler), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina), Roy Hibbert (Georgetown), Robbie Hummel (Purdue), Chris Lofton (Tennessee), Kevin Love (UCLA), O.J. Mayo (USC), DeMarcus Nelson (Duke), A.J. Price (Connecticut), Derrick Rose (Memphis), Brandon Rush (Kansas), Tyler Smith (Tennessee) and D.J. White (Indiana).
Harangody also was the District V Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and also was named to the District V first team. He also was named a second team All-American by ESPN.com. and SI.com.