The Jerry West Award has announced its watch list for the 2019 season and it includes both a Jayhawk and a Wildcat.
K-State senior guard Barry Brown, Jr., has been named one of those 20 watch list members for the 2019 Jerry West Shooting Award, which honors the top shooting guard in college basketball.
A 6-foot-3, 195-pound three-year lettermen from St. Petersburg, Florida, Brown enters his senior season in 2018-19, ranking 12th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,283 points having seen action in all 105 career games at K-State with 83 consecutive starts. He also ranks third all-time in steals with 189, just 22 shy of breaking Jacob Pullen’s career mark of 210 set from 2007-11, as well as in the career Top 10 for field goals attempted (1,094), 3-point field goals attempted (401) and minutes played (3,283).
KU's Quentin Grimes also made the list. Grimes is a five-star combo guard who made his rounds on the all-star game circuit following his senior year at College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas. Ranked No. 8 in the national recruiting services, he averaged 29.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists his senior season, earning the 2017-18 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, Texas Mr. Basketball and the 6A Player of the Year. This past summer, Grimes was the Most Valuable Player and an All-Tournament selection at the 2018 FIBA Americas U18 Championships in leading USA to the gold medal, where he averaged 14.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists. The USA squad was coached by KU head coach Bill Self.
Other candidates include Auburn’s Bryce Brown, Cincinnati’s Jarron Cumberland, Davidson’s Kellen Grady, Duke’s R.J. Barrett, Florida’s KeVaughn Allen, Gonzaga’s Zach Norvell, Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman, Indiana’s Romeo Langford, Kentucky’s Tyler Herro, Mississippi State’s Quinndary Weatherspoon, Nebraska’s James Palmer, Jr., Notre Dame’s T.J. Gibbs, St. John’s Mustapha Heron, Syracuse’s Tyus Battle, Virginia’s Kyle Guy, Washington’s Jaylen Nowell and Wofford’s Fletcher Magee.
Named after Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor, in its fifth year, recognizes the top shooting guard in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.
