It was Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday and that wasn’t the only exciting event for Gator nation’s favorite Canuck as Andrew Nembhard heard he was named to the Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List.
The Bob Cousy Award is an honor given at the end of the season to college basketball’s most outstanding point guard named after the former Boston Celtic and Holy Cross Crusader Bob Cousy. First awarded in 2004 the Bob Cousy Award is voted on by a committee of Hall of Famers, coaches, media members, athletic directors, and even Bob Cousy himself. Some past winners include Raymond Felton, D.J. Augustin, Ty Lawson, Tyler Ulis, and last year’s winner Ja Morant.
Nembhard being named to the watch list shows that his excellent freshman season was noticed and his potential for a big year has been recognized. Even though Kerry Blackshear Jr. and Scottie Lewis may be grabbing a lot of the headlines the Bob Cousy Committee sees how important Nembhard will be and acknowledge that he’s someone to watch out for. The watch list currently consists of 20 players and it will be cut down to 10 in February with the winner being announced shortly after the season.
Florida has never had a Bob Cousy Award winner and Nembhard will have a chance to make history in that area. If he won he would also be the second international player to win after Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez (Venezuela) won it in 2010. In recent history Chris Chiozza and Kasey Hill have both been named to the watch list but obviously didn’t end up with the hardware. Hill was named to the preseason watch list before both his freshman and sophomore campaigns (but not before his final two seasons) and interestingly enough Chris Chiozza ended up making the final-10 player cut in his senior season even though he actually wasn’t named to the preseason watch list. That scenario obviously shows the award isn’t limited to the 20 players named, but there are definitely some heavy hitters on the list with Michigan State’s Cassius Winston, Duke’s Tre Jones, and North Carolina’s prized recruit Cole Anthony.
Cassius Winston is considered to be the runaway favorite here as he is also a consensus favorite to win the multiple player of the year awards. Nembhard should definitely have a chance to factor into the discussion due to the success the Gators are looking primed to have. He’ll have every tool at his disposal to showcase his game with an elite big with Kerry Blackshear Jr. to pick and roll with, lethal shooters to pass to in Noah Locke and Tre Mann, and super-athletes Keyontae Johnson and Scottie Lewis to run with in transition.
Nembhard will have plenty of chances to demonstrate why he might be the best point guard in college hoops going head to head with some other athletes on the watch list. The Gators will play against Trent Forrest (Florida State), Ashton Hagans (Kentucky), and Lamonte Turner (Tennessee) who were named to the list and Nembhard will have every opportunity to win the matchup and show who is the superior guard.
In a year full of expectations for the Gators this won’t be a priority and it’s not the ultimate goal Nembhard is chasing but it still would be great for Florida player to win this honor and he could have the best shot at the title a Gator guard will have for some time.