BOSTON - Three WAC men's basketball players - NM State's
Ian Baker, CSU Bakersfield's
Dedrick Basile and Grand Canyon's
Joshua Braun - have been named to the Lou Henson Award Preseason Watch List, given to the nation's top Division I mid-major player.
Baker, a Preseason All-WAC honoree, was a first team All-WAC pick last year after averaging 13.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He also shot 43 percent from the floor.
A Preseason All-WAC selection, Basile helped lead the Roadrunners to their first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance and was named WAC Tournament MVP after hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer to win the WAC Tournament last year as a junior. He was named second team All-WAC, to the WAC All-Defensive Team and to the WAC All-Newcomer Team after averaging 12.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game last year.
The WAC Preseason Player of the Year, Braun averaged 16.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and led the league in both three-point field goal percentage (41.7) and free throw percentage (87.3) last year as a sophomore. He was also a first team Academic All-American®, was named to the Lou Henson All-America Team and was named to the NABC All-Region 6 Team.
Lou Henson coached for 41 years. When he left the game in 2005, he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. He is the winningest coach at both Illinois and NM State and is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.
The recipient of the 2017 Lou Henson Award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on April 31 in Phoenix, site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship. The complete list of nominees can be found
here.