Seniors Matt Thomas (Iowa State) and Frank Mason III (Kansas) have been named candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. The duo are two of 30 men’s basketball players selected for the honor.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Thomas, an Onalaska, Wisconsin native, is an ISU Scholar-Athlete and two-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree. During his career, Thomas has always been an active participant in community service projects. He served on Iowa State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which plays a major role in setting up community service opportunities for student-athletes. On the court, Thomas’ impact is felt on a daily basis. He is fourth on the team averaging 11.3 points this season with eight games scoring in double figures. Thomas has scored 887 career points and fourth all-time at Iowa State with 191 three-pointers made in his career.

Mason is second in the Big 12 in scoring with 19.5 points per game and tops the conference with 81 assists. He has been the Jayhawks leading scorer in 10 games in 2016-17.

The 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to fields of 10 finalists in February, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.