On Friday, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 20 candidates for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.
Last season, Wisconsin big man Frank Kaminsky won the first-ever Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.
The list of candidates includes five freshmen: Indiana's Thomas Bryant, Kansas' Cheick Diallo, Kentucky's Skal Labissiere, Maryland's Diamond Stone and UNLV's Stephen Zimmerman. However, Labissiere and Diallo are both waiting to be cleared by the NCAA.
The watch list also includes several mid-major standouts: UC Irivine's 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye, Egidijus Mockevicius of Evansville and Weber State's Joel Bolomboy.
Here's the full list of candidates:
Kaleb Tarczewski, Arizona
Mamadou Ndiay, UC Irvine
Josh Scott, Colorado
Egidijus Mockevicius, Evansville
Przemek Karnowski, Gonzaga
Thomas Bryant, Indiana
Jameel McKay, Iowa State
Cheick Diallo, Kansas
Skal Labissiere, Kentucky
Diamond Stone, Maryland
Stephen Zimmerman, UNLV
Kennedy Meeks, North Carolina
Zach Auguste, Notre Dame
A.J. Hammons, Purdue
Jakob Poeltl, Utah
Damian Jones, Vanderbilt
Daniel Ochefu, Villanova
Josh Hawkinson, Washington State
Joel Bolomboy, Weber State
Devin Williams, West Virginia
Five finalists will be named in March. A winner will be selected on April 8.
