Six BIG EAST Basketball Standouts Land on Awards Watch Lists
NEW YORK - With non-conference schedules winding down and league play looming, most Player of the Year awards have released their lists of players to watch for the remainder of the year and it looks like voters willl be tuning in to watch plenty of BIG EAST basketball.
Five BIG EAST men’s hoopsters have been placed on at least one of the major watch lists for a National Player of the Year award. Creighton’s Doug McDermott in 2014 was the last BIG EAST player to be named National Player of the Year, winning every major award.
Providence’s Kris Dunn appears on the watch lists for the John R. Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Pile these on top of Dunn’s other preseason accolades that include being named to the ESPN Preseason All-America Team, the 2015-16 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Preseason All-America Team, the CBS Sports Preseason All-America First Team and The Sporting News Second Team Preseason All-America squad. The Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year, Dunn currently leads the conference in assists and steals while ranking third in scoring.
Kellen Dunham of Butler joins Dunn as the only other BIG EAST player on all three major awards watch lists. Dunham sits atop the league in scoring at 19.1 points per game and has led the Bulldogs to an 8-1 start to the year. A Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team selection, the senior from Pendleton, Ind., copped his first conference Player of the Week award of the season last week.
Two senior anchors, Georgetown’s D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono each appear on two watch lists. Smith-Rivera, named to the Wooden and Naismith watch lists, paces the Hoyas in scoring, assists and steals. Arcidiacono, on the Oscar Robertson and Naismith watch lists, ranks second in the league in assist/turnover ratio and has powered the Wildcats to a top 15 spot in the national polls. Both Smith-Rivera and Arcidiacono were named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team.
Villanova’s Jalen Brunson is the lone freshman from the conference on a National Player of the Year watch list (Wooden Award), but is joined by Marquette’s Henry Ellenson on the list for the Wayman Tisdale Award, annually given to the nation’s top freshman. Neither has shown many signs of rookie nerves, proving to be extremely valuable pieces to their respective squads. Playing point guard for one of the country’s top projected teams, Brunson has risen to the occasion, snagging MVP honors in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Ellenson has also hit the ground running and has yet to look back, ranking fourth in the conference in scoring at 16.5 points per game and second in rebounds.
Arcidiacono, Brunson, Dunn and Smith-Rivera are also on the watch list for the 2016 Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point guard in college basketball.
Naismith Trophy Early Season Watch List
Kellen Dunham, Butler
Kris Dunn, Providence
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova
Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List
Kellen Dunham, Butler
D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown
Kris Dunn, Providence
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova
John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50
Kellen Dunham, Butler
D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown
Kris Dunn, Providence
Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Wayman Tisdale Award Watch List
Henry Ellenson, Marquette
Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Bob Cousy Award Watch List
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown
Kris Dunn, Providence
Ryan Arcidacono, Villanova
Jalen Brunson, Villanova