KU Foursome Named to Watch Lists
LAWRENCE, Kan. – University of Kansas men’s basketball players Perry Ellis, Frank Mason III, Wayne Selden Jr. and Cheick Diallo have been named to various national watch lists, released Wednesday.
Ellis, Mason and Selden appear on both the Naismith Trophy College Player of the Year 50-man early watch list by the Atlanta Tipoff Club and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Oscar Robertson Trophy watch list for the men’s national player of the year. Diallo is on the USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award watch list for the national freshman of the year.
With Ellis, Mason and Selden, Kansas is one of only two schools with three representatives on each of the Naismith and Oscar Robertson lists, along with Kentucky. The Oscar Robertson list consists of 33 student-athletes from 26 schools, while the Wayman Tisdale list is made up of 18 freshmen from 14 institutions.
Through six games, Selden leads Kansas with a 17.2 scoring average. The Roxbury, Massachusetts junior guard has made a team-high 20 3-pointers and is making 57.1 percent from behind the arc. Selden was named co-Most Valuable Player of the 2015 Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Nov. 23-25, along with Mason. Selden was also selected the co-Big 12 Player of the Week Nov. 30 for his efforts in Maui.
Mason leads Kansas with 34 assists through six games and is averaging 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest. The Petersburg, Virginia junior guard is also tied for the team lead with 11 steals in 2015-16.
A senior forward from Wichita, Kansas, Ellis has two games of 20-plus points and was named to the Maui Invitational All-Tournament Team, along with Selden. The 2015 Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Ellis is averaging 15.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game so far this season. He is on pace to become only the eighth Jayhawk to end his career ranked in the top 15 in all-time scoring and rebounding at KU.
Diallo made his college debut by scoring 13 points with six rebounds and three blocked shots in Kansas’ 94-61 win against Loyola Maryland on Dec. 1. The Kayes, Mali (Africa) forward missed the first five games of the 2015-16 season being cleared by the NCAA.
No. 4/6 Kansas (6-1) will next play host to Harvard on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2:15 p.m. (Central) on ESPN2.
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