Pac-12 Players Nominated For Inaugural Awards
By Andrew Kahn
College basketball fans are likely familiar with the Bob Cousy Award, which has been given to the country’s top collegiate point guard for the past 11 years. The Basketball Hall of Fame will be handing out that trophy again this year and has added four more for the other positions. Last week, the Hall of Fame announced finalists for these honors, and the Pac-12 has multiple players in the running for each.
Bob Cousy: Point Guard
There are 17 finalists and it should be no surprise that Arizona’s T.J. McConnell and Utah’s Delon Wright are among them. The seniors are leading candidates for Pac-12 Player of the Year and the most important players on the two teams atop the conference. Tyrone Wallace of Cal and Washington’s Nigel Williams-Goss, who are in the top 10 in the league in both points and assists, are also finalists. While their teams have struggled, they’ve been steady contributors. The 6’5” Wallace is playing mostly point guard this season for the first time and is a tough match-up given his size and speed. Cousy played for Holy Cross, where he won an NCAA title in 1947 and was named a First-Team All-American as a senior in 1950.
Jerry West: Shooting Guard
The top two scorers in the league are among the 16 finalists for the award named after one of the sport’s greatest shooters. Oregon’s Joseph Young and Stanford’s Chasson Randle are some of the best go-to scorers in college basketball. They each shoot at least 90 percent from the free throw line as well. West attended West Virginia and averaged 24.8 points in his three varsity seasons. He took the Mountaineers to the title game in 1959 and was an All-American in ’59 and ’60.
Julius Erving: Small Forward
“Dr. J” averaged 26 points and 20 rebounds over his two college seasons at the University of Massachusetts. None of the 15 finalists can match those numbers, but the Pac-12’s representatives are worthy nonetheless. Freshman phenom Stanley Johnson of Arizona and Anthony Brown of Stanford made the cut.
Karl Malone: Power Forward
The Pac-12’s players for this award highlight the difficulty in classifying certain players by one position. Are Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Kevon Looney power forwards as opposed to small forwards? Neither plays like Malone, particularly Looney, who has attempted 40 three-pointers in his freshman season at UCLA. Like Looney, Arizona’s Hollis-Jefferson is a great offensive rebounder whose athleticism makes him a tough match-up. Unlike many of the 16 players nominated for his award, Malone did not attend a basketball power. But he led Louisiana Tech to a Sweet 16 appearance, the only time the school won two games in an NCAA Tournament.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Center
Older fans will tell you they don’t make centers like they used to, but even they’d have to admit the Pac-12’s finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award are traditional big men. The trio of Josh Scott (Colorado), Stefan Nastic (Stanford), and Jakob Poeltl (Utah) have attempted a combined four three-pointers this season. Abdul-Jabbar, known as Lew Alcindor at the time, is the most decorated college basketball player of all time, having been named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player in the three years UCLA won national titles.
Each of the five awards will narrow its finalists down to five in early March. The winners will be announced on April 10th in a nationally-televised live event.
Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at AndrewJKahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn
