Feb. 20, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior forward Luke Harangody (Schererville, Ind.) is among 16 finalists for the United States Basketball Writers Association’s (USBWA) 2010 Oscar Robertson Trophy as the association’s national player of the year.
Harangody joins Kansas’ Sherron Collins and Ohio State’s Evan Turner as returning finalists from last season. In addition to the trio, the other finalist include Cole Aldrich (Kansas), James Anderson (Oklahoma State), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky), Devan Downey (South Carolina), Jimmer Fredette (BYU), Robbie Hummel (Purdue), Damion James (Texas), Wesley Johnson (Syracuse), Domique Jones (USF), Greg Monroe (Georgetown), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova), Jon Scheyer (Duke) and John Wall (Kentucky).
The Oscar Robertson Trophy is the nation’s oldest award and is the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Roberston was the USBWA’s first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.
The presentation of this year’s award will take place on Fri., April 2 at the USBWA’s annual awards breakfast at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis, Ind., in conjunction with the NCAA Men’s Final Four. The breakfast also will honor the winner of the Henry Iba Award, presented by the USBWA to the national coach of the year.
The Oscar Robertson Trophy is voted on by the entire membership of the association, which consists of nearly 900 journalists. The ballot will be distributed to the membership on Mon., March 1.
Harangody currently is averaging 24.1 points and 10.1 rebounds this season and has missed the last two contests (St. John’s and Louisville) since suffering a deep bone bruise on his right knee against Seton Hall on Feb. 11. He ranks second nationally in scoring and is tied for 23rd in rebounding and has scored in double figures in all 25 contests he has played, topped the 20-point mark in 17 contests and netted 30-plus points in five games.
Harangody has 2,425 career points and 1,198 rebounds and is the only player in Notre Dame history with 2,000 points and 1,000 career rebounds. He owns career averages of 19.6 points and 9.7 rebounds.