BOSTON, Mass. – Missouri State senior Kyle Weems and Creighton sophomore Doug McDermott are two of 25 finalists nationwide for the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Award. The award, sponsored by POINT 3 Basketball and CollegeInsider.com, will be determined by several criteria, including fan voting at http://www.VoteLouHenson.com.

The recent subject of a Sports Illustrated feature, McDermott ranks third nationally in scoring average and ranks first or second in the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and three-point percentage. He's helped Creighton to a 23-5 record and 12 weeks in the national rankings this year.

A native of Topeka, Kan., Weems was a 2011 Associated Press All-American for the Bears and earned the MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year Award. He was also the MVC Preseason Player of the Year in 2011-12 and is averaging 15.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game with 54 three-pointers and an 80-percent free throw clip. He is a six-time MVC Player of the Week and was named Division I National Player of the Week on Jan. 2.

The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the top Mid-Major player in Division I college basketball. The award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a spectacular coaching career that lasted 41 years. When he left the game in 2005 he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. He is the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State and is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.

POINT 3 will make a contribution to the general scholarship fund of the school that accumulates the most votes, and throw their student body a viewing party for the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Fans can vote online at http://www.VoteLouHenson.com.

The 2012 Lou Henson Award nominees are as follows:
Julian Boyd, Long Island
Isaiah Canaan, Murray State
Torrey Craig, USC Upstate
Matthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's
LaRon Dendy, Middle Tennessee
Shane Gibson, Sacred Heart
Michael Glover, Iona
Reggie Hamilton, Oakland
Orlando Johnson, UC Santa Barbara
Jarrod Jones, Ball State
Damian Lillard, Weber State
Scott Machado, Iona
C.J. McCollum, Lehigh
Doug McDermott, Creighton
Tony Mitchell, North Texas
Dominique Morrison, Oral Roberts
Kevin Murphy, Tennessee Tech
Mike Muscala, Bucknell
Kyle O'Quinn, Norfolk State
Lamarcus Reed, UT-Arlington
Zack Rosen, Penn
Gerardo Suero, Albany
Casper Ware, Long Beach State
Kyle Weems, Missouri State
Nate Wolters, South Dakota State

Fan voting presented by POINT 3 counts for one-third of the criteria in selecting the Lou Henson Award winner. A Collegeinsider.com Selection Committee will make up the remaining two-thirds. The winner of the 2012 Lou Henson Award will be announced on March 30 in New Orleans, site of the NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Butler’s Matt Howard was the recipient of the 2011 award.

Collegeinsider.com was established in 1995, by Joe Dwyer and Angela Lento, as a regional college basketball newsletter. They have since developed and implemented unique and creative content such as the Coach Column, The Mid-Major Top 25 and The Runway to the Fashionable 4. The Mid-Major Top 25 is now in its thirteenth year of existence and, with 31 coaches on the voting panel, is nationally regarded as the measuring stick for programs outside the traditional power conferences. In 2009, the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was created, a 24 team Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament featuring teams exclusively outside BCS conferences.