Mason Named a Semifinalist for the Eddie Sutton Tustenugee Award
TULSA, Okla. – Kansas men’s basketball junior Frank Mason III has been selected as a semifinalist for the sixth Eddie Sutton Tustenugee Award, CBS Sports host and analyst Doug Gottlieb and Tulsa Sports Charities announced Wednesday.
Mason is one of 11 semifinalists for the award which singles out a player who exhibits the traits of tenacity and unselfishness that Sutton advocated during his 36-year coaching career that included more than 800 victories.
Mason has been the starting point guard for No. 2/2 Kansas (24-4, 12-3) for the past two seasons. The Petersburg, Virginia, guard ranks 12th in the Big 12 in scoring at 13.5 points per game. He is also among the league leaders in assists (fifth at 4.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (eighth at 2.4), steals (13th at 1.4) and free throw percentage (15th at 73.7). Mason, who at 5-foot-11 is third on the KU team with a 4.6 rebound average, was the co-MVP of the 2015 Maui Invitational in leading the Jayhawks to the tourney title.
Gottlieb, who played for Sutton at Oklahoma State (1998-2000), oversees a panel of national media members who cover college basketball. Following the panel’s final selection, Gottlieb will present the award during the Tulsa Sports Charities celebrity golf tournament May 16 at Cedar Ridge Country Club.
The award is sponsored by the John and Jerry Marshall Foundation of Tulsa. John Marshall was a roommate of Sutton at OSU in the 1950s.
In the language of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, one of the Five Civilized Tribes that settled in Oklahoma, “tustenugee” means “warrior.”
Tulsa Sports Charities is a 10-year-old non-profit organization with a track record for hosting blue-ribbon events and gold-medal athletes while delivering some $900,000 in scholarships and donations to area universities and charitable activities.
2016 Eddie Sutton Tustenugee Award Semifinalists
Ryan Archidiacono, Villanova, 6-3, Senior, G
Zach Auguste, Notre Dame, 6-10, Senior, F
Michael Carrera, South Carolina, 6-5, Senior, F
Matt Costello, Michigan State, 6-9, Senior, F
Tonye Jekiri, Miami (Fla.), 7-0, Senior, C
Roosevelt Jones, Butler, 6-4, Senior, G/F
FRANK MASON III, KANSAS, 5-11, Junior, G
Marshall Plumlee, Duke, 7-0, Senior, C
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky, 5-9, Sophomore, G
Justin Sears, Yale, 6-8, Senior, F
Thomas Walkup, Stephen F. Austin, 6-4, Senior, F
Previous Winners
2011 – Matt Howard, Butler
2012 – Quincy Acy, Baylor
2013 – Victor Oladipo, Indiana
2014 – Josh Davis, San Diego State
2015 – T.J. McConnell, Arizona
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
