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Before the season started, you were pretty confident that one member of the Syracuse Orange basketball team was going to be named one of 10 semifinalists for the 2014 Men's Naismith Trophy.
But I'm guessing you were expecting C.J. Fair, no?
Syracuse freshman Tyler Ennis has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the 2014 Men's Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T. The list was announced on Friday, Feb. 28 by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Ennis is one of four freshmen on the list of semifinalists. He leads the ACC in assists (5.61 apg) and steals (2.14 spg). Ennis is averaging 12.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He has earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors four times this season and was selected as CBSSports.com's Rookie of the Week on Dec. 2.
The voting academy will select four finalists for the award, which will be announced on March 23.
The other semifinalists include Duke's Jabari Parker, Arizona's Nick Johnson, Creighton's Doug McDermott, Kansas' Andrew Wiggins and Louisville's Russ Smith amongst others.
Perhaps you could argue C.J. Fair belongs in the mix but other than the Duke game, I'm guessing there aren't too many times people could point at C.J. and say, "that guy is the best player in the nation!"
Don't cry too much for the senior, he and Ennis were named two of the 15 finalists for the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy. Ennis is also one of six finalists for the Integris Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award. Those award-winners will be named in late March/early April.
