Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard was named Monday to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List — the first of four or five Bulldogs who could see their name on preseason lists one week before the college basketball season begins.
Nembhard’s made the watch list for the Cousy Award, given at the end of the season to the nation’s top point guard, twice previously. The senior from Aurora, Ont., was honored before his sophomore season and Creighton and again last year, prior to making his debut with Gonzaga.
The point guard led the West Coast Conference in assists last season at 6.9 per game, including 6.8 per game in league play, and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.9). Nembhard also set Gonzaga’s single-season record for assists 243, surpassing both older brother Andrew, now a member of the Indiana Pacers, along with the school’s previous record-holder, Josh Perkins.
Nembhard averaged a career-high 12.6 points per game last season to go with 4.0 rebounds per game and 1.2 steals per game. He reached the 1,000-point milestone last season and enters his senior season with 1,194 career points and 538 assists.
The other 19 candidates for the Bob Cousy Award include Alabama’s Mark Sears, Baylor’s Mark Sears, Duke’s Tyrese Proctor, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., Georgetown’s Malik Mack, Indiana’s Myles Rice, Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey, Kansas’ Dajuan Harris, Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard, North Carolina’s Elliott Cadeau, Notre Dame’s Markus Burton, Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr., Purdue’s Braden Smith, Rutgers’ Dylan Harper, Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler, Texas’ Jordan Pope, Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV and Texas Tech’s Elijah Hawkins.
The other three returning starters at Gonzaga — Nolan Hickman, Ben Gregg and Graham Ike — along with one newcomer, Pepperdine transfer Michael Ajayi, will all be candidates to appear on the four positional watch lists that will be unveiled throughout the week.
Those include the Jerry West Award (shooting guard), Julius Erving Award (small forward), Karl Malone (power forward), and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (center).
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