2014 Sportsman of the Year finalist: Louisville's Russ Smith delighted, excited

Over the past 10 days, we have been revealing, in alphabetical order, the 10 finalists for the 2014 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sportsman of the Year award.

The winner will be announced simultaneously the night of Feb. 4 on Kentucky.com and at the fourth annual Bluegrass Sports Awards banquet.

Complete results from Sportsman voting will be in the Feb. 5 Herald-Leader along with a story on the winner and summaries on each of the top 10 finishers in the voting.

Here is the last of the 10 finalists:

Russ Smith

Why 2014 was a very good year: The Louisville guard (18.2 ppg, 4.6 assists, 2.0 steals) became only the sixth men's hoops player in school history to become a consensus first-team All-America choice.

What the voters said:

1.) "A first-team All-American, and just so much fun, on and off the court."

— Lachlan McLean, WHAS-AM, Louisville

2.) "In an era of one-and-done, (Smith) epitomizes the four-year athlete. Fans become attached and the team does well."

— Dennis George, WLSK-FM, Lebanon, WOKH-FM, Bardstown

3.) "One of the most unique and endearing U of L basketball players ever."

— Paul Rogers, Louisville Cardinals radio play-by-play announcer

This story was originally published February 3, 2015 at 7:02 PM with the headline "2014 Sportsman of the Year finalist: Louisville's Russ Smith delighted, excited."