The accolades continued to grow for Kansas State senior Dean Wade, who was among 20 players selected to the preseason watch list for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Player of the Year Award Presented by ShotTracker, as announced today (November 5) by the organization.
Wade was one of just Big 12 players on the watch list, along with Kansas’ Dedric Lawson.
The 2019 NABC Division I Player of the Year Award will be announced on Sunday, April 7 at the NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show in Minneapolis, Minnesota, site of this year’s Final Four.
Earlier in the day, Wade and teammate Barry Brown, Jr., were among 50 players chosen for the watch list for the Citizen Naismith Trophy of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. In addition, Wade was named the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year by the league coaches and a unanimous Preseason All-Big 12 selection, while he was selected to the watch list for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.
A 6-foot-10, 228-pound forward from St. John, Kansas, Wade is coming off a stellar junior season in 2017-18, in which, he became just the 15th player in the Big 12 era to average at least 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals in a single season, as he averaged 16.2 points on 55 percent shooting, including 44 percent from 3-point range, to go with 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals in 32.8 minutes per game.
Wade nearly grabbed a double-double in Friday’s exhibition with Pittsburg State, scoring a game-tying 14 points (6-of-9 field goals) to go with 9 rebounds in just 19 minutes of action.
