Diallo Named to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Preseason Watch List

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Kansas freshman Cheick Diallo has been named to the 20-member watch list for the 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award recognizing the top center in men’s college basketball, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Friday.
 
Diallo, 6-9, 220 with a 7-4 wingspan, joins four other Jayhawks that were named to preseason watch lists by the Naismith Hall of Fame with senior Perry Ellis being on the Karl Malone Award list, Wayne Selden Jr. and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk on the Julius Erving Award list and Frank Mason on the Bob Cousy Award list.
 
Named the 2016 Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year by the league coaches, Diallo enters his first year at Kansas after being listed on almost every high school All-America squad last spring as a senior at Our Savior New American High School in New York. The Kayes, Mali, Africa, native averaged 17.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game during his senior campaign and was later named the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 McDonald’s All-American game.
 
By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award will be narrowed down to 10. In March, five finalists will be announced and the winner of the 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be named April 8, 2016. Last season, Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin was named the inaugural winner of the award.
 
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