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Quote:OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Having already received numerous preseason accolades from several national media outlets, Kent State senior forward Justin Greene (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was bestowed a more distinguished recognition on Friday (Nov. 4). Greene was selected as one of only 30 men's basketball student-athlete candidates for the 2011-12 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's 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.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of candidates follows this release.

An Honorable Mention All-American and MAC Player of the Year last season, Greene joins a candidate class includes three players who were members of last year's CoSIDA Academic All-American team and seven players who are on teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll.

Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the men's Senior CLASS Award® winner during the 2012 NCAA Men's Final Four®, which will be held March 31 and April 2 in New Orleans.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in 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, Division I coaches and fans who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

Kent State begins the year with an exhibition game against Rochester College on Monday, November 7. Admission is free. The season officially gets under way on Nov. 15 at West Virginia. Tip-off time is at 10:00 a.m. for the game, which will be televised live on ESPN as part of the network's fourth annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.

If you can not catch the Golden Flashes on television be sure listen to all the games on the radio at WNIR 100.1 FM, your home for Kent State men's basketball. For ticket information contact the KSU ticket office at 330-672-2244.


Men's Basketball Candidates
Tim Abromaitis, Forward, Notre Dame
William Buford, Guard, Ohio State
Kyle Bullinger, Forward, Weber State
Scott Christopherson, Guard, Iowa State
Darnell Gant, Forward, Washington
Ashton Gibbs, Guard, Pittsburgh
Drew Gordon, Forward, New Mexico
Malcolm Grant, Guard, Miami (Florida)
Draymond Green, Forward, Michigan State
Justin Greene, Forward, Kent State
Reggie Hamilton, Guard, Oakland
Mick Hedgepeth, Forward, Belmont
Robbie Hummel, Forward, Purdue
Bernard James, Forward, Florida State
Orlando Johnson, Guard, UC Santa Barbara
Jarrod Jones, Forward, Ball State
Kevin Jones, Forward, West Virginia
Quinn McDowell, Forward, William and Mary
Darius Miller, Guard, Kentucky
Ronald Nored, Guard, Butler
Zack Novak, Guard/Forward, Michigan
Zack Rosen, Guard, Pennsylvania
Jesse Sanders, Guard, Liberty
Tanner Smith, Guard, Clemson
Jordan Taylor, Guard, Wisconsin
Erving Walker, Guard, Florida
Demetrius Ward, Guard, Western Michigan
Kyle Weems, Forward, Missouri State
Chris Wroblewski, Guard, Cornell
Tyler Zeller, Forward, North Carolina