Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards is one of five finalists for the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday.
Named after Class of 1980 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. The other four finalists are Mason Jones from Arkansas, Kamar Baldwin from Butler, Ty-Shon Alexander from Creighton and Myles Powell from Seton Hall.
Edwards, an Atlanta native, is the nation’s freshman scoring leader this season, averaging 19.8 points per game. He is the only freshman ranked among the top-50 scorers in the country and is one of just three in the top-100. Edwards has scored in double figures in 25 of the Bulldogs’ 29 games, with 13 20-point performances and three 30-point efforts. He has been named SEC Freshman of the Week a school-record four times, including each of the past two weeks. Edwards scored a career-high 37 points against No. 3 Michigan State in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in November.
“It is an immense honor to be a finalist for the Jerry West Award and I’m certain these student athletes are proud and inspired to finish their body of work for this season,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, which administers the five national position player of the year awards. “We are honored to have Jerry West’s unique insights from a player, coach, and executive standpoint as we evaluate our finalists down the stretch this season.”
A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 student-athletes in October, which was narrowed to 10 candidates in early February and now just five finalists. This month, the finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame’s selection committee. Naismith Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, March 6 via hoophallawards.com.
“It has been a privilege to help evaluate this year’s talent alongside the Hall of Fame and the committee members,” said Jerry West, Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1980. “The level of play this year has been tremendous. As these athletes continue competing in their most critical games, I look forward to watching them finish the season at their best.”
The winner of the 2020 Jerry West Award will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April 10, 2020, along with the other four members of the Naismith Starting Five. 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, in addition to the Women’s Starting Five.
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).