NCAA Men's Basketball Senior Class Award

I saw this award linked elsewhere. Lowe's gives a senior class award to men's and women's basketball players. There are 10 finalists and popular vote counts for a third of the vote.

Apparently Lowe's does not recognize the Western third of the country, as no player representing a school west of Texas was named a finalist on the men's or women's side.

While I am sure they are all great choices in their own right, few players represent the spirit of a student-athlete more than Alfred Aboya from UCLA. Aboya graduated from UCLA - a top 25 academic institution - in three years. He resisted an opportunity to play professionally in Europe to return for a fourth season and a chance to go to a fourth NCAA Final Four. He is working toward a Master's degree in Political Science and his stated goal is to become the President of Cameroon, his home country.

Not to take anything away from the other candidates, but somehow, I think a player working on his Master's degree and a fourth trip to the Final Four while setting the all-time record for games played at UCLA, a program with a little basketball history, would be hard to overlook. I would like to know where to start the write-in campaign.

I am happy that Lowe's and the NCAA did not hold it against players if they were from the western United States, as players like Oakland's Courtney Paris, Phoenix's Christina Wirth, Seattle's Terrence Williams and Denver's Abby Waner managed to slip onto the list. However, not one western institution is represented on the list.

As for my personal choices, as I said, I suggest a write-in for Aboya on the men's side. On the women's side, I suggest voting for Christina Wirth from Vanderbilt, another player already working on a Master's degree from a top university and a player with WNBA ability on the court.