Sunrise Christian Academy’s Lourawls Nairn Jr. gets nod in Name of the Year bracket

You’ll never find another name like Lourawls Nairn Jr.

Wichita State basketball fans may have complained when the NCAA Tournament released its bracket and the Shockers were only a No. 7 seed.

We submit that another athlete with Wichita ties also has a reasonable complaint about underseeding in a bracket: Lourawls Nairn Jr.

Nairn is the No. 15 seed of the Bulltron Regional in this year’s Name of the Year bracket.

In its 33rd year, the Name of the Year’s mission is “to discover, verify, nominate, elect and disseminate great names” – all of which are real, to the best of the committee’s knowledge.

Previous winners include Shamus Beaglehole, Jerome Fruithandler and Miracle Wanzo.

Originally from the Bahamas, Nairn is a freshman guard on Michigan State’s basketball team who played at Wichita’s Sunrise Christian Academy. He was ranked as a top-100 recruit by ESPN in 2014.

While we love that Nairn is finally getting some national attention for a great name, we think a 15 seed is an injustice partly because the NOTY committee didn’t include his nickname: “Tum Tum.”

He was nicknamed “Tum Tum” after a character from the 1992 movie “3 Ninjas,” according to Michigan State’s media guide.

Nairn has a tough climb to the top, facing No. 2 seed Rev. Pierbattista Pizzaballa in the first round and a possible regional final against No. 1 seed Cherries Waffles Tennis.

Kansas actually has two entries in the field as Bishop Miege High School’s Bol Bol, the son of former NBA player Manute Bol, is a No. 11 seed.

If Nairn were to win he would join former KU softball player Destiny Frankenstein as a champion.

While not all of the entrants are aware of their name’s place in the field, Frankenstein embraced the competition.

“I want it I am not going to lie,” she wrote in an e-mail to the competition. And before the final vote, she wished “…Good luck to Spaceman (Africa)...but come on Frankenstein is one of a kind!”

Voting for this year’s champ is now open at Nameoftheyear.com.

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Sunrise Christian Academy’s Lourawls Nairn Jr. gets nod in Name of the Year bracket."