Sahvir Wheeler named to Bob Cousy Award Watch List

Kentucky guard Sahvir Wheeler ended the 2021-22 season as a Bob Cousy Award Finalist. Now going into 2022-23, the senior leader has been named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s preseason watch list for the 2023 Bob Cousy Award.

Wheeler is one of 20 candidates on the list, an honor that ultimately goes to the best point guard in college basketball. Kentucky has had one player in program history earn the award when Tyler Ulis took home the trophy in 2016. Other SEC candidates on the 2022-23 preseason list include Alabama’s Jahvon Quinerly and Auburn’s Wendell Green Jr.

The Kentucky point guard led the SEC and ranked third nationally with an average of 6.9 assists per game. Picked to the All-SEC Second Team by both the league’s coaches and media, Wheeler’s 207 assists were the fourth-most in a single season in UK history while the Houston native ranked second in the conference with a 2.27 assist-to-turnover ratio. In 30 games played in 2021-22, Wheeler averaged 10.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals to go along with his 6.9 assists per contest.

Named after All-American and NCAA Champion guard Bob Cousy from Holy Cross, the award is in its 20th year.

Fans are encouraged to participate in voting in each of the three rounds for the Naismith awards. In late January, all of the lists will be narrowed down to 10 players and five in February. Winners will be announced at a to-be-determined date. Starting Five Fan Voting will go live on Friday, Oct. 28 at www.hoophallawards.com.

Jahvon Quinerly	Alabama
Jordan Walker	UAB
Kerr Krjisa	Arizona
Wendell Green Jr.	Auburn
Isaiah Stevens	Colorado State
Ryan Nembhard	Creighton
Antonie Davis	Detroit Mercy
Jeremy Roach	Duke
Sahvir Wheeler	Kentucky
Darius McGhee	Liberty
Kendric Davis	Memphis
Caleb Love	North Carolina
Grant Sherfield	Oklahoma
Max Adams	Oral Roberts
Will Richardson	Oregon
Yuri Collins	St. Louis
Mike Miles Jr.	TCU
Tyrese Hunter	Texas
Tyger Campbell	UCLA
Kihei Clark	Virginia

Additional awards being presented include the Jerry West Award (Shooting Guard), the Julius Erving Award (Small Forward), the Karl Malone Award (Power Forward) and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (Center), in addition to the Women’s Starting Five.

A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.