Battier, Catchings Get Naismith Nod

ATLANTA (AP) â€” Duke's Shane Battier and Tennessee's Tamika Catchings were the top vote-getters on the preseason list of candidates for the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Naismith player of the year

Tuesday, September 26th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) â€” Duke's Shane Battier and Tennessee's Tamika Catchings were the top vote-getters on the preseason list of candidates for the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Naismith player of the year awards.

Battier, a senior forward, averaged 17.4 points last season and has 1,206 career points at Duke. Catchings, a senior forward, won the Naismith last year.

The other top candidates among the men were Troy Murphy of Notre Dame and Brendan Haywood of North Carolina. Svetlana Abrosimova of Connecticut and LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State were the other top female candidates.

Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin won the Naismith award last year.

The award is determined in voting by a group of coaches, journalists and administrators.