Senior guard Aaron Craft floats for a layup during a game against Purdue March 13 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. OSU won, 63-61.
Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor
On Pi Day — a day where Ohio State published a video highlighting Aaron Craft’s ability to recite the many digits of the mathematical constant pi — the senior guard received yet another recognition.
A testament to his play this season, Craft was named one of six finalists for the 2014 Bob Cousy Award, an honor given to the top point guard in men’s college basketball.
According to a press release, the field of six finalists was whittled down from a list of 47 players by the Cousy Award screening committee.
Joining Craft, the five other finalists for the award are UCLA sophomore Kyle Anderson, Syracuse freshman Tyler Ennis, Connecticut senior Shabazz Napier, North Carolina sophomore Marcus Paige and Wichita State sophomore Fred VanVleet.
“It was a tough process to narrow down the list of already exceptional point guards to only six, but these six men deserve to be fighting for the award and recognized as some of the greatest point guards in college basketball,” said Ken Kaufman, chair of the Bob Cousy Award and former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, echoed the sentiments of his colleague, and added that the most difficult decision lies ahead.
“The Cousy Award screening committee took on the tough job of choosing from many talented point guards to determine this list of six players who represent the leadership skills that Bob Cousy exhibited,” Doleva said. “Each of these candidates has consistently proven that they are worthy of this prestigious award.”
While the screening committee takes plenty of time to select each finalist, Craft said that he doesn’t waste a minute to think about individual accomplishments.
“There’s plenty of time to think about that when I’m old and fat and can’t run up and down anymore,” Craft said, regarding his place as a finalist. “The things that are going to be remembered are the things we do as a team. That’s the biggest focus.”
Previous winners include many current NBA point guards like former Texas Longhorn D.J. Augustin, former St. Joseph’s Owl Jameer Nelson and the winner of the 2013 Cousy Award, former Michigan Wolverine Trey Burke.
According to the release, the winner of the 2014 Cousy Award is scheduled be announced during the Hall of Fame festivities at the 2014 Final Four in Dallas.
