Butler’s Smith, Indiana’s Hulls finalists for Senior CLASS Award
From Butler Athletics and ISL staff:
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Butler center Andrew Smith and Indiana guard Jordan Hulls have been selected among 10 finalists for the 2012-13 Men’s Basketball Senior CLASS Award.
Purdue’s Robbie Hummel won the award last year.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
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.
The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in October. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website or on the Senior CLASS Award Facebook fan page through March 25. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner.
Smith, the lone current collegiate player who has seen action in two NCAA Division I national championship games, is the second-leading scorer (11.5 ppg) and rebounder (5.3 rpg) for the nationally-ranked Bulldogs. He has started 89 of Butler’s last 91 games, including both of the Bulldogs’ contests at the 2011 Final Four and has helped the Bulldogs to a four-year, 101-34 record.
The 6-11 is an honor student majoring in finance, and he’s been active in a number of community service events as a member of the Butler basketball team. He was recently named to the Capital One Academic All-District V Team.
The selection of Smith marks the third consecutive year that Butler has had a player named as a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. Butler’s Matt Howard was one of ten finalists for the award in 2010-11, while Ronald Nored was a finalist for last year’s award.
Hulls averages 11.1 points per game and shoots 49 percent from 3-point range for the No. 1 Hoosiers.
The men’s Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2013 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta, Ga., April 6 and 8.
