FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                             April 1, 2006                                                                                                                                             

Award honors college basketball’s Senior Player of the Year;
Announcement made by Dick Enberg on CBS telecast of the men’s Final Four

(Kansas City, MO) – This years Bayer Advantage^® Senior CLASS Award winners are J.J. Redick of Duke University and Seimone Augustus of Louisiana State University. Both are the recipients of the award which is presented annually to the outstanding men’s and women’s senior NCAA Division I basketball player.

The announcement of the winners was made today by CBS sportscaster Dick Enberg to a live national television audience viewing the network’s telecast of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship in Indianapolis.

The Senior CLASS Award – an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School – was launched during the 2001-02 season in response to the recent trend of college basketball players leaving college early to turn professional.

 s a senior, Redick expanded his offensive game scoring 964 points, becoming the Duke University and the ACC all time scoring leader. He averaged 26.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals. He led the ACC in scoring and three point field goal percentage (3.86) and was second in free throw percentage (.863).

Augustus was also impressive during her senior year, averaging 23.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals. She led the SEC in scoring, was fifth in field goal percentage (.568) and ninth in free throw percentage (.794) while leading the Lady Tigers to the Final Four in Boston.

National balloting was conducted during the month of March by three separate voting entities – a National Media Committee that covers college basketball, Division I college basketball coaches, and nationwide fan balloting. The names of ten Finalists, which were selected from a list of 30 nominees by the media committee, appeared on the ballot.

A points system combined the votes for these groups and determined the national winner of the Bayer Advantage^® Senior CLASS Award. Redick captured first place in all three voting groups, outdistancing Illinois’ Dee Brown in the overall standings for the men’s award. Augustus also finished first place in all three voting groups, overtaking Monique Currie to gain the overall first place spot.

Based on results from the balloting, the SCA Organizing Committee also announced today the men’s and women’s All-Senior All-American Teams for 2005-06.

Joining Redick on the men’s First Team is Dee Brown of Illinois, Randy Foye of Villanova, Shelden Williams of Duke, and Kevin Pittsnogle of West Virginia. The Second Team includes Craig Smith of Boston College, Maurice Ager of Michigan State, Taquan Dean of Louisville, Chris Hernandez of Stanford, and Vincent Grier of Minnesota.

The women’s All-Senior All-America First Team is Augustus, Monique Currie of Duke, Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers, Sophia Young of Baylor, and Ann Strother of Connecticut. The Second Team includes Notre Dame’s Megan Duffy, Connecticut’s Barbara Turner, Liz Shimek of Michigan State, Candice Dupree of Temple, and LaToya Davis of Texas Tech.

During Redick’s brilliant four-year career at Duke, he won 116 games, which is tied for sixth most games won in any four-year period in Duke history. He lead the Blue Devils to two regular season ACC championships, four ACC Championship games (winning three) four Final Four appearances including the 2004 National Championship Semi-Final Game, and three “Sweet Sixteens.” Redick, finished his career ranked first in scoring, first in three point field goals, first in free throw percentage, first and second in consecutive free throws and fifth in scoring average.

As a senior, Redick was ACC Tournament MVP, Sporting News National Player of the Year, Rivals.com First Team All American, Wooden Finalist, USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Co-Winner, AP National Player of the Year and he was the ACC Conference’s leading scorer with a 26.8 average.

Augustus, regarded as one of the nation’s best female athletes, culminated a highly productive college basketball career with a dominating senior season. She lead the NCCA in scoring, averaging 23.0 points per game, averaged 4.8 rebounds and shot 79.4% from the free throw line.

Over the last four seasons, Augustus has been a key figure in LSU’s women's basketball program. The Tigers made four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances making it to the Championship game in three of the four years, won over 120 games and the SEC tournament. In December 2005, Joanne McCallie, Michigan State head coach said, “There are not enough adjectives to describe what she is. I just know she's great." How great is she? In 2005-06 Augustus received All-America Honor from the AP, AP's National Player of the Year, a Wooden Award finalist, selected as USBWA All-American and after the Final Four will join Team USA in Australia for the Opals World Challenge.

During her first three years at LSU she was 2005 Consensus National Player of the Year, 2005 SEC Player of the Year, 2005 First-team All-America, 2004 & 2005 Kodak All-American, 2004 & 2005 NCAA Regional MVP, 2003 Consensus National Freshman of the Year, MVP of the 2003 FIBA World Championship for Young Women, and 2003 United States Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.

The general concept of an award to honor college seniors was instigated by Enberg during the CBS telecast of the 2001 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game, the year Shane Battier led Duke to the national title. The idea was brought to fruition by a group of Kansas City business leaders and Premier Sports Management, a sports marketing company. Enberg serves as Honorary Chairman.

The previous men’s winners include Juan Dixon of Maryland, David West of Xavier, Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph’s and Wayne Simien of the University of Kansas. The women’s recipients include Sue Bird of Connecticut, LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State, Alana Beard of Duke and Kendra Wecker of Kansas State University.

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CONTACT
Premier Sports Management
Gary Heise
(913) 681-6990

As selected in balloting for the Bayer Advantage^® Senior CLASS Award by cumulative results of NCAA Division I Coaches, National Media Committee and Fan Balloting

Men’s First Team

Women’s First Team