SPRINGFIELD, Mass.: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has announced its candidates for the 2011 Bob Cousy Award, which includes Virginia Commonwealth University’s Joey Rodriguez.
The annual award, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes college basketball’s top point guard.
Rodriguez is one of three CAA point guard candidates, and several of the Rams’ opposing point guards from this year are also featured on the list. Ten games into his senior season, Rodriguez is averaging 11.7 points per game and a CAA-leading 5.3 assists per game. He also set the single-game team record for assists with 17 against University of North Carolina – Greensboro on November 12th of this year.
Coming off a junior year in which he earned Second-Team All-CAA accolades, Rodriguez was named to the Preseason All-CAA First Team prior to this season. For his career, he ranks fourth all-time in steals with 190 and is just five assists (425 total) away from being fifth all-time in assists.
“Bob is one of the great players in the history of basketball and his point guard ability was well ahead of his time,†said Ken Kauffman, Chair of the Bob Cousy Award. “This award recognizes his incredible talents from the past while also honoring the best in today’s game. We look forward to honoring this year’s award winner come April.â€
Previous winners of the Bob Cousy Award have included: Jameer Nelson (St. Joseph’s), Raymond Felton (North Carolina), Dee Brown (Illinois), Acie Law (Texas A&M), D.J. Augustin (Texas), Ty Lawson (North Carolina) and Greivis Vasquez (Maryland). For more information on the 2011 Bob Cousy Award, log onto www.cousyaward.com
The list of candidates will be narrowed down to a final group of five points guards on March 5th, and the Bob Cousy awarded winner will be announced April 4th.
via VCUAthletics.
