Wisconsin's Kaminsky wins Naismith Trophy

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wisconsin senior Frank Kaminsky brought the Badgers their first Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T when he was named winner of the award on Sunday. Kaminsky becomes the sixth overall winner from the Big Ten Conference and third in the past six years, following Scott May (Indiana, 1976), Calbert Cheaney (Indiana, 1993), Glenn Robinson (Purdue, 1994), Evan Turner (Ohio State, 2010) and Trey Burke (Michigan, 2013).

The Atlanta Tipoff Club made the announcement on Sunday during the AT&T National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Guardians of the Game Awards Show at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis.

Kaminsky was selected from among four finalists that included Kentucky junior Willie Cauley-Stein, Notre Dame senior Jerian Grant and Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor.

The finalists were chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, which based selections on individual performances throughout the 2014-15 college basketball season, and by fans, who were eligible to vote via a desktop and mobile device voting program from March 23 through April 4. This is the 12th consecutive year that fans have contributed to the selection of the Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T. The vote was tabulated by the certified public accounting firm Habif, Arogeti &Wynne, LLP, the largest tax, audit and business advisory firm headquartered in Georgia. Habif, Arogeti & Wynne is the 51st largest CPA firm in the nation and has been recognized as a 2014 "Best of the Best" firm by INSIDE Public Accounting.

First created in 1969, UCLA’s Lew Alcindor was the Naismith Trophy’s inaugural winner.

“Frank displayed tremendous leadership qualities this season through selfless play and making those around him better, and in doing so clearly demonstrated why he is the Naismith Trophy winner as the most outstanding player in the nation,” said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

“Frank Kaminsky and the other nominees are all fantastic representatives of what the Naismith Trophy is all about -- athleticism, sportsmanship and leadership,” said Mark Collins, senior vice president, AT&T Mobility. “We at AT&T offer Frank our most sincere congratulations, and we wish him the best of luck on Monday night.”

Related:
• NCAA.com/Naismith
• History of Naismith winners