ACU's Brette Tanner a finalist for top 1st year hoops coach

Abilene Christian men's basketball coach Brette Tanner was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award on Monday.

The award is presented annually to the top first-year head coach in Division I college basketball.

ACU won three games in the WAC Tournament to reach the championship game against New Mexico State this season.

The Wildcats then played in the College Basketball Invitational. They'll face Middle Tennessee on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CDT in the semifinals. The game is scheduled to air on ESPN2.

Joe B. Hall was a longtime assistant coach at Kentucky before taking over legendary head coach Adolph Rupp in 1972. Hall went 297-100 , and led Kentucky to the 1978 National Championship.

The winner of the award will be announced at the NCAA Final Four on April 1.

Below are the 15 finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award

Speedy Claxton - Hofstra

Hubert Davis - North Carolina

Gerald Gillion - Chicago State

Kevin Kruger - UNLV

Tommy Lloyd - Arizona

Steve Lutz - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Tony Madlock - South Carolina State

Jordan Mincy - Jacksonville

Kyle Neptune - Fordham

David Riley - Eastern Washington

Levell Sanders - Binghamton

Brette Tanner - Abilene Christian

Drew Valentine - Loyola Chicago

Chris Victor - Seattle

Mike Woodson - Indiana