Basketball Trophies - Wooden Award preseason candidates announced

The top 50 preseason basketball candidates for the Men’s 2007-08 John R. Wooden Award were announced last Wednesday by The Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Wooden Award Committee. The Award is named for the three-time college basketball All American, 1932 Player of the Year and ten-time national championship coach at UCLA.

The list is composed of 50 student basketball players who, based on their 2006 individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for this coveted basketball trophy. Players not on the preseason list are eligible for the midseason top 30 and National Ballot.

In January 2008, the Wooden Award committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed by the distribution of the National Ballot to more than 1,000 voters in early March. The 10-player Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the Tuesday after the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament is completed.

The 2008 Award ceremony, which includes the presentation of the Men’s and Women’s John R. Wooden Award, the Wooden Award All-American Teams, and the Legends of Coaching Award to recipient Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club in April. One of these five players will be named the John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year at a live televised announcement from The Club where he is awarded the prestigious five-figured bronze basketball trophy.

Trophies News spotlights the Goat Trophy college basketball rivalry

Minnesota - St. Olaf College and Carleton College played the first of two games this season to determine if the Knights can maintain possession of the famed Goat Trophy. St. Olaf was the winner of last night’s game, beating Carleton by just 1 point (final score 61-60).

HISTORY OF THE GOAT TROPHY

• In 1914, Endre Anderson, a St. Olaf student (and later Oles coach) fashioned a makeshift goat out of a chair and hung it from the rafters of the St. Olaf gym. He was trying to “get the goat” of the Carleton players. Carleton won that game and claimed the Goat as a trophy. The two teams have traded the “Goat” ever since.

• The team not in possession of the Goat Trophy must be sweep the season series in order to wrest control away from the other team.

• After earning of the “Goat” with two wins in 1958, St. Olaf maintained possession of the trophy until 1989-90 when Carleton prevailed in a pair of close contests. The trophy has resided with Carleton every year since, except the 2002-03 season when the Oles pulled out a pair of overtime victories.

Trophies News spotlights the new Carolina Basketball Museum

UNC’s Carolina Basketball Museum, which opened to the public on Jan. 28, features more than 450 pieces of memorabilia and trophies from the celebrated basketball program. The museum cost $3.4 million and covers 8,000 square feet.

The new museum is an upgrade from the much smaller memorabilia and trophy room in the Smith Center, which was used for other sports as well. The only other university with a basketball-only museum is Kentucky.

The trophy room is filled with ACC championship, Final Four and NCAA championship memorabilia. The NCAA Championship trophy case still has room for four more trophies, should UNC win them someday.

The idea was formed roughly five years ago when Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith decided to donate his extensive collection of memorabilia to North Carolina.

“I think that Carolina fans are a pretty passionate group about the basketball team,” said Steve Kirschner, UNC’s associate athletic director for communications and a member of the museum committee. “We’ve been blessed with a great deal of success, both great teams, great players, great coaches. We’ve never had one place where we’ve been able to bring all that together in terms of the memorabilia and the trophies. We have that now with this museum.”

BURLINGTON, Vt.—

Three members of the NBA champion Boston Celtics basketball team are due in Vermont on Monday along with the championship trophy. The Vermont appearance will be the first stop on a team tour of New England with the trophy. Celtic starters Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo will be in Burlington along with reserve guard Tony Allen.

The three will appear in a rally from noon to 2 p.m. at the top of the Church Street Marketplace.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Celtics President Richard Gotham and other officials also are expected at the rally.

Fans who attend the rally will have a chance to have their picture taken with the trophy.

Let me first extend a special thank you to the selection committee for creating the Spirit of North Carolina Award. It is my distinct honor today to present the inaugural Spirit of North Carolina Award to NC State University’s Coach Kay Yow.

Coach Yow’s achievements have inspired honors for her players as well, with 13 former players going on to either coach or play in the Women’s National Basketball Association.

No one embodies the concept of this award better than Kay Yow. 

As she begins her 33rd season, we are blessed to have her guiding our basketball program and serving as an inspiration to our students, our staff and our community. As NC State’s women’s basketball head coach, she has averaged 20 wins per season, directing the Wolfpack to 19 top three finishes in the final ACC standings and five ACC Championships. She was the first women’s basketball coaching ACC history to reach 650 career wins and has coached the USA Team to gold medals in two Olympics.

Her incredible accomplishments have been recognized through several awards and hall of fame inductions, including the prestigious Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the well-deserved ESPY Award for Perseverance.

But her legacy goes well beyond women’s basketball.

While we are all familiar with her athletic successes, it is her positive approach to life and her commitment to helping others that really sets her apart. Coach Yow has triumphed over adversity with a passionate and determined spirit, while helping others in the shared quest for excellence. She started the “Hoops for Hope” charitable basketball game at NC State, centered around hope — hope for early detection, hope for increased survival, and hope for a cure for breast cancer. 

Coach Yow is truly one of those special people who impacts others with her grace, humility and strength in powerful ways.

And today, we want to recognize just how special you are, Coach Yow.

Kay Yow is a courageous fighter, an incredible leader and a tremendous role model. And the State of North Carolina wants to continue her legacy by forever after naming this award, The Kay Yow Spirit of North Carolina Award.