Long Beach State University Athletics
Ware named finalist for Cousy Award
1/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. -
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Official Release in PDF Format 
Long Beach State point guard Casper Ware is one of 20 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. The Bob Cousy Award recognizes college basketball's top point guard.
Ware (Cerritos, Calif./Gahr HS) is averaging 14.8 points, 6.0 assists, and 1.9 steals per game, while making 39.1 percent of his field goals, 34.8 percent of his threes and 84.1 percent of his free throws. He leads the Big West Conference in assists, while ranking 21st in the nation. He is also second in the league in steals, third in assist-to-turnover ratio, fourth in free throw percentage and ninth in scoring. Ware has scored in double-figures in 13 of Long Beach State's 17 games, including scoring at least 20 points four times. He has also handed out at least five assists in 14 of LBSU's 17 games, including games with 10, nine and eight (twice).
Ware has started 78 of Long Beach State's 80 games since playing as a true freshman during the 2008-09 season. He is averaging 11.5 points and 4.8 assists during his three-year career. He already ranks sixth in career assists and eighth in career steals at Long Beach State and is just 84 points shy of scoring 1,000 career points. He earned second-team All-Big West Conference honors and was named to the all-tournament team after the Big West Conference Tournament as a sophomore, while also being named to the Big West Conference All-Freshman Team his first year at LBSU. Ware claimed a spot on this year's Preseason All-Big West Conference First Team.
The list of finalists will be narrowed to 10 in early February and down to five in early March. The winner of the 2011 Bob Cousy Award will be presented at the Hall of Fame's Class Announcement on Monday, April 4, in Houston as part of NCAA Final Four weekend.
