Griffin,
a 6-2 power forward from Eagle River, Alaska, has produced one of the best
senior seasons in Nebraska history in 2009-10, averaging 20.4 points and a Big
12-leading 10.4 rebounds per game. She has led No. 3 Nebraska to the first
perfect regular season by a Big 12 men's or women's team since the inception of
the league in 1996-97, powering the Huskers to a 29-0 overall record and a 16-0
conference mark.
The Wade,
Naismith and Wooden Award candidate is also a finalist for the 2010 Lowe's
Senior CLASS Award has continued to improve throughout her career at Nebraska
because of her tireless work ethic and her infectious team-first
attitude.
"It's a
great honor to be selected by the coaches as the Big 12 Player of the Year,"
Griffin said. "The Big 12 is one of the best conferences in the country, so to
be named the player of the year in a conference is filled with so many great
players is really an extraordinary honor.
"I know
it's an individual award, but to me, this award is more about my teammates. I
could not have achieved this award without the players on this team. There are
so many great players around me that have delivered the ball to me in great
positions all year along. Vonnie (Turner) and Cory (Montgomery) have spaced the
floor so well for us this year, because they are such great players. Nicole
(Neals) and Kala (Kuhlmann) have gotten me the ball all season long, and
Dominique (Kelley) and Lindsey (Moore) are great players who have made our team
so much better in so many ways this year."
The
three-time first-team All-Big 12 selection was at her best in conference action,
averaging 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds in 30 minutes per game, while adding 29
steals and 15 blocked shots. She also dished out 35 assists while committing
just 28 turnovers in league play, despite facing constant double and triple
teams by opponents.
On
Monday, Griffin also became the first player in Big 12 history to win four
consecutive Big 12 Player-of-the-Week honors. She was named the Big 12 Player of
the Week six times this season, including awards on Feb. 15, Feb. 22, March 1
and March 8.
Griffin
leads the Big 12 with 17 double-doubles on the season, and she also leads the
Huskers with 23 charges drawn on the year, while adding 54 steals and 21 blocked
shots to go along with 205 defensive rebounds. Her efforts on defense this
season earned Griffin one of five spots on the Big 12's All-Defensive
Team.
"I have
said for a couple of years that Kelsey Griffin is the best offensive player I
have ever coached," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. "This year I can say that
Kelsey is the best player I have ever coached because she has put in the work to
make herself one of the best defensive players in the country as well. She
doesn't just block shots, or doesn't just get steals, she does both of those
things and she rebounds and has the knowledge and talent to get into position to
take charges."
Yori
said Griffin's work ethic from her first day on campus, set Griffin apart from
most players and allowed the lightly recruited Alaskan to turn into a legitimate
candidate for national player of the year.
"There
is no one more deserving of Big 12 Player-of-the-Year honors than Kelsey
Griffin, and I think it is terrific that the outstanding coaches in our league
recognize how valuable Kelsey is to our team and how great of a player she is,"
Yori said. "Great example of why recruiting is not an exact science. From the
moment she walked on campus, she has set herself apart in her work ethic to make
herself the best player that she can be, and that has been a daily process for
her."
Griffin
credits Yori and the Husker staff for her improvement throughout her five-year
career in Lincoln.
"I am
so thankful to have had so many great coaches working with me every day for the
last five years, who not only care about me as a player, but that genuinely care
about me as a person and want me to get better every day not only as a player,
but also off the court to be the best person I can become."
Griffin,
who is a candidate the Wade and Naismith trophies and the Wooden Award, is also
a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and is a three-time first-team
academic All-Big 12 candidate.
"Kelsey
not only represents our program well on the court, but she also does an
incredible job of representing our program in a positive fashion," Yori
said. "It is great to see someone who is not only a great player, but who is
also a great person win the award."
Griffin said
earning Big 12 Player-of-the-Year honors was the farthest thing from her mind
when she arrived at Nebraska as a freshman in the summer of 2005.
"Coming
to Nebraska out of high school from Alaska five years ago, I never imagined this
would be possible," Griffin said. "Actually, I never even imagined that I would
be All-Big 12, let alone a player-of-the-year candidate. There have been so many
great players in the conference during my time here, from Sophia Young to
Courtney Paris over the past few years, and then this year with Danielle McCray
at Kansas, Andrea Riley at Oklahoma State, Alison Lacey at Iowa State and even
Brittney Griner at Baylor. They are all amazing players and just to be mentioned
on the same team with them is an honor for me.
"This
award though is less about me, and more about what the players around me have
done to make us all better this year. My teammates have put me in position to
succeed and they have put our team in a position to win every game."
Griffin
was joined in Nebraska's Big 12 hardware haul on Monday by senior teammates Cory Montgomery and Yvonne Turner, who both claimed first-team All-Big 12 honors for
the first times in their careers. Turner was also named the Big 12 Co-Defensive
Player of the Year while earned a spot on the Big 12 All-Defensive Team for the
third straight season.
Junior
guard Dominique Kelley earned honorable-mention All-Big 12 accolades, while
point guard Lindsey Moore claimed a spot on the Big 12 All-Freshman
Team.
Griffin,
who ranks among the top 20 players in the nation in scoring, rebounding and
field goal percentage, has climbed to No. 4 on Nebraska's career scoring list
(1,939 points) and No. 3 in career rebounding (967). She enters this week's Big
12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., on the brink of becoming one of fewer than
125 players in NCAA history to reach 2,000 points and 1,000 career rebounds. She
would join 1993 Wade Trophy winner Karen Jennings as the only Huskers to ever
accomplish the feat.
"I do
believe that I have played a role in our success. I have worked really hard
every practice and every offseason to improve. This year, I really focused on my
perimeter shooting to help stretch the defense away from the basket," Griffin
said. "But a lot of my teammates made huge improvements this year. Whether I was
on this team or not, they were going to be better this year than last year
because they have all worked so hard and taken the offseason to heart. The
reason we have been successful is that we all know we are better than we have
ever been, and our confidence has grown because of our commitment and love for
one another."
Nebraska
will continue its season in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals on
Friday, March 12, at 11 a.m. The top-seeded Huskers will play the winner of the
first-round game between No. 8 seed Texas Tech and No. 9 seed Kansas State.
Nebraska's game will be televised live nationally by FSN from Municipal
Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.