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Oct. 30, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia senior guards Joe Harris and Ataira Franklin are among 60 men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes to be selected as candidates for the 2013-14 Senior CLASS Award.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Harris (Chelan, Wash.) was one of five players named to the preseason All-ACC team. In his junior campaign, Harris averaged a career-high 16.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game and was named to the All-ACC first team by the ACC coaches and Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACSMA). Harris also earned United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District 3 and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 2 honors.

Franklin (Bowie, Md.) was named to the preseason All-ACC team. In her junior season, Franklin earned All-ACC honors after finishing the year ranked ninth in the conference in scoring at 14.3 points per game, and fifth in steals at 2.2 per game. Franklin will enter the 2013-14 season having scored 1,192 points in her Cavalier career, ranking her 20th in the UVa record book.

The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Men’s Final Four® and NCAA Women’s Final Four®.

Each of the 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. 


Of the 60 candidates, 20 have grade point averages of 3.5 or higher. There are eight CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans® and seven returning All-Americans. Twenty-four of the 32 NCAA Division I basketball-playing conferences are represented as well.

More information on all the candidates is available at seniorCLASSaward.com.

Men’s Basketball Candidates
Travis Bader, Oakland
Joe Jackson, Memphis
Jerrelle Benimon, Towson
Walt Lemon Jr., Bradley
Kyle Boswell, UC Santa Barbara
J.J. Mann, Belmont
Allan Chaney, High Point
Doug McDermott, Creighton
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Sean McGonagill, Brown
Jordan Dykstra, South Dakota State
Travis McKie, Wake Forest
Melvin Ejim, Iowa State
Jordan McRae, Tennessee
Dwayne Evans, Saint Louis
Shabazz Napier, Connecticut
Chris Eversley, Cal Poly
Dennis Ogbe, Tennessee Tech
C.J. Fair, Syracuse
Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State
Tim Frazier, Penn State
Dwight Powell, Stanford
Jakob Gollon, Mercer
Augustine Rubit, South Alabama
Joe Harris, Virginia
Russ Smith, Louisville
Holton Hunsaker, Utah Valley
Chris Udofia, Denver
Anthony Ireland, Loyola Marymount
Patric Young, Florida

Women’s Basketball Candidates
Gennifer Brandon, California
Amanda Hyde, IPFW
Heather Butler, Tennessee-Martin
Maggie Lucas, Penn State
Alyssa Charlston, Idaho
Dequesha McClanahan, Winthrop
Hallie Christofferson, Iowa State
Sarah Nelson, Creighton
Jerica Coley, Florida International
Eilise O’Connor, Missouri-Kansas City
Allyson DiMagno, Cornell
Chiney Ogwumike, Stanford
Alexis Dobbs, American
Haley Peters, Duke
Stefanie Dolson, Connecticut
Theresa Plaisance, LSU
Jamierra Faulkner, Southern Mississippi
Michelle Plouffe, Utah
Ataira Franklin, Virginia
Odyssey Sims, Baylor
Chelsea Gray, Duke
Alex Smith, Holy Cross
Sarah Hansen, Florida Gulf Coast
Kacie Sowell, Seattle
Cassie Harberts, Southern California
DeNesha Stallworth, Kentucky
Jordan Hooper, Nebraska
Rachel Tecca, Akron
Natasha Howard, Florida State
Alli Wiliams, Saint Francis

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