Few nominated as finalist for Naismith Award

Twenty of the country’s top collegiate men’s basketball coaches, including Gonzaga University’s Mark Few, were named as finalists for the Naismith Award presented by Coca-Cola, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday.

The Naismith Award is presented annually to the men’s and women’s college basketball coaches of the year.

Few, in his sixth season at Gonzaga, has the Bulldogs 23-4, ranked 12th in the country and the No. 1 seed heading into this weekend’s West Coast Conference Tournament at Santa Clara University. The Bulldogs, who won their fifth straight WCC regular-season title, will play in Sunday’s 6 p.m. semifinal against an opponent to be determined in first and second round play Friday and Saturday. Few earned his fifth straight WCC Coach of the Year accolade earlier this week.

Also finalists are: Washington coach Lorenzo Romar; former Eastern Washington University coach Ray Giacoletti, Utah; and former Washington State University coach Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma.

These coaches will go to the final ballot in March, when the Board will select the coach who has distinguished himself as the best collegiate coach in the nation. The coach of the year will be recognized at the Naismith Awards Banquet on April 8 in Atlanta.

Women’s basketball

Gonzaga University senior Ashley Burke has been named the West Coast Conference women’s basketball Player of the Month for February.

The native of North Vancouver, British Columbia, led the Bulldogs to a 7-0 record for the month, capping the second perfect regular season in the conference’s women’s basketball history. Burke, who earlier this week was named to the All-WCC first team, averaged 17.9 ppg and 7.6 rpg for the month. She moved into fourth on both the Gonzaga career scoring and rebounding lists and climbed up to 12th on the WCC career scoring chart. Burke shot 63 percent (47 for 74) from the floor.