WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State seniors
Ron Baker,
Anton Grady and
Fred VanVleet have landed on preseason watch lists for the Jerry West, Karl Malone and Bob Cousy Awards, respectively.
Tuesday morning, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released a list of 20 leading candidates for each of its five major men's basketball honors, given annually to Division I college basketball's top point guard (Cousy Award), shooting guard (West Award), small forward (Julius Erving Award), power forward (Malone Award) and center (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award).
In 2015, Baker – a senior from Scott City, Kan. - was one of five finalists for the inaugural West Award and led the fan portion of the final voting. A Sporting News preseason first team All-American, Baker is coming off a standout junior season that saw him average a team-high 14.7 points.
Grady – a fifth-year senior transfer from Cleveland State – was one of the elite frontcourt players in the Horizon League, earning first team all-conference honors and all-defensive team status. He averaged 14.3 points and 7.9 rebounds and tallied eight double-doubles in 16 conference games.
VanVleet – a senior from Rockford, Ill. – is on the Cousy Watch List for the third-straight year. He's been selected as a finalist in each of the past two seasons and was also the top vote getter in the fan portion of the balloting. A Sporting News second team preseason All-American, VanVleet has ranked in the top-10 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio in each of the past two seasons, and his 95 career wins rank second nationally among active players.
Watch Lists for all five awards will narrow to 10 in mid-February and to five finalists in March. The winners – determined by a Hall of Fame appointed selection committee - will be announced at ESPN's College Basketball Awards Show, live from Club Nokia in Los Angeles, on Friday, April 8, 2016.
Now in its 13th year, the Cousy Award is named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic and Holy Cross point guard, Bob Cousy. Utah's Delon Wright won the honor in 2015.
Other past Cousy Award winners include: Shabazz Napier, Connecticut (2014), Trey Burke, Michigan (2013), Kendall Marshall, North Carolina (2012), Kemba Walker, Connecticut (2011), Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (2010), Ty Lawson, North Carolina (2009), DJ Augustin, Texas (2008), Acie Law, Texas A & M (2007), Dee Brown, Illinois (2006), Raymond Felton, North Carolina (2005) and Jameer Nelson, St. Joseph's (2004).
The West Award, named after Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player, Jerry West, honors the nation's top shooting guard. Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell was the inaugural winner in 2015.
The Malone Award also made its debut last spring, with Louisville's Montrezl Harrell taking the honor of top power forward. It is named for Hall of Famer and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Karl Malone.
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was invented, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame promotes and preserves the game of basketball at every level – professional, collegiate and high school, for both men and women on the global stage.
For more information on Cousy, West, Malone, the awards and the hall of fame, visit hoophallawards.com.
-Wichita State-
2016 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Candidates Allonzo Trier, Arizona
Anthony Drmic, Boise State
Kellen Dunham, Butler
Jordan Matthews, California
Grayson Allen, Duke
Dwayne Bacon, Florida State
Marvell Harris, Fresno State
James Blackmon, Indiana
AJ English, Iona
Antonio Blakeney, Louisiana State
Rasheed Sulaimon, Maryland
Sheldon McClellan, Miami
Caris Levert, Michigan
Malik Newman, Mississippi State
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
E.C. Matthews, Rhode Island
Danuel House, Texas A&M
Melvin Johnson, Virginia Commonwealth
Malcom Brogdon, Virginia
Ron Baker, Wichita State 2016 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Candidates Rico Gathers, Baylor
Taurean Prince, Baylor
Ivan Rabb, California
Tony Parker, UCLA
Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Perry Ellis, Kansas
Shawn Long, Louisiana-Lafayette
Henry Ellenson, Marquette
Shaq Goodwin, Memphis
Brice Johnson, North Carolina
Beejay Anya, North Carolina State
Ryan Spangler, Oklahoma
Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
Markus Kennedy, Southern Methodist
Jameel Warney, Stony Brook
Jordan Loveridge, Utah
Alec Peters, Valporasio
Anton Grady, Wichita State 2016 Bob Cousy Award presented by College of the Holy Cross Candidates Kyle Collinsworth, Brigham Young University
Tyrone Wallace, California
Maodo Lo, Columbia
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Florida State
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown
Juan'ya Green, Hofstra
Yogi Ferrell, Indiana
Monte Morris, Iowa State
Frank Mason, Kansas
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky
Melo Trimble, Maryland
Marcus Paige, North Carolina
Demetrius Jackson, Notre Dame
Gary Payton, Jr., Oregon State
Kris Dunn, Providence
Carson Puriefoy, Stony Brook
Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova
Fred VanVleet, Wichita StateBronson Koenig, Wisconsin
