University of Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards is one of 10 players on the latest Watch List for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which administers the five-position player of the year honors, announced the list on Tuesday.
The announcement comes a day after Edwards was included on the top-20, late-season Wooden Award Watch List and also was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season.
A 6-5, 225-pound Atlanta native, Edwards is the nation’s top-scoring freshman at 19.3 ppg. He also is the only freshman currently ranked among the top-50 scoring leaders in Division I.
Edwards has scored in double figures in 18 of 21 games and has reached the 20-point plateau in 10 contests. He is tied among SEC leaders for 20-point performances. Edwards is ranked second in the SEC in scoring, both overall (19.3 ppg) and in league action (20.9 ppg)
Edwards is one of two freshmen (along with Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey) and four SEC players (along with Isaish Joe of Arkansas, Maxey and Skyar Mays of LSU) included on the top-10 list.
Other players on the top-10 list include Kamar Baldwin of Butler, Ty-Shon Alexander of Creighton, Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy, Joe Wieskamp of Iowa, Myles Powell of Seton Hall and Desmond Bane of TCU. Players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point during the 2019-20 season.
Named after Class of 1980 Naismith Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor in its sixth year, recognizes the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel narrowed down the watch list from 20 to just 10 candidates.
In March, five finalists will be presented to West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April 10, 2020.
Additional awards being presented and sponsored by Eaton Ephesus Lighting include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award, as well as the Women’s Starting Five. Broadcast information will be released by ESPN at a later date.
Previous winners of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award include RJ Barrett, Duke (2019), Carsen Edwards, Purdue (2018), Malik Monk, Kentucky (2017), Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (2016) and D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State (2015).
“The Hall of Fame is proud to establish connections between current athletes and fans with the iconic figures in our game, such as Jerry West,” John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, said. “All athletes in this top ten list should be proud to be nominated for such an honor, and we are privileged to have Jerry West’s continued involvement in the Starting Five, as his unique insights and expertise will aid us in trimming this list further in the next month.”
West attended West Virginia University and averaged 24.8 points and 13.3 rebounds per game in his three varsity seasons. He led his team to the NCAA Championship game in 1959 and was named a consensus All-American in 1959 and 1960. In the summer of 1960, he was co-captain of the U.S. men’s basketball team and won an Olympic gold medal. As a professional player, West played 14 seasons in the NBA with the Lakers making the All-NBA First Team 10 times. West won an NBA championship in 1972 and was named the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 despite his team not winning the championship. In 1996, he was named a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.