Smart Wins Tisdale Award As National Freshman Of The Year

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association will present the 2013 Integris Wayman Tisdale Award to Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart. The award – a statuette designed by nationally-recognized sculptor Shan Gray – will be presented to Smart at the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards on April 15 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

As the national freshman of the year, Smart has led the Cowboys to a 23-7 record and a No. 14 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 entering this weekend's Big 12 Conference Tournament in Kansas City.

Smart, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound true freshman from Flower Mound, Texas, has joined a pair of previous USBWA National Freshman of the Year Award winners – Texas' Kevin Durant (2007) and Kansas State's Michael Beasley (2008) – in an exclusive group of three players to be chosen as the Big 12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season. Smart was also named to the USBWA's All-District VI Team to go with selections to the All-Big 12 First Team, the Big 12 All-Defensive Team and the Big 12 All-Rookie Team.