Nico Carvacho is having quite the year. On Friday, it got even better when the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced Carvacho is one of ten finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award.
The award is named after former UCLA and NBA standout, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Abdul-Jabbar is a three-time NCAA champion, six-time NBA champion who won many awards such as Final Four Most outstanding player (three times), National College Player of the Year (three times), Consensus First-Team All-American (three times), NBA Most Valuable Player (six times) and NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (two times). He was also a 19-time NBA All-Star and the leagues leading scorer.
Carvacho was not one of the original 21 players named to the watch list for the award, but his standout play has since caught the attention of the voters.
Not only does Carvacho lead the nation in rebounding, at 12.9 boards per game, but he has recorded many other top marks this season.
He averages 15.8 points per game, a team high and ninth overall in the Mountain West. He has hit 59.0 percent of his shots from the field, ranking 29th in the country.
He has 15 double-doubles this year—third best in the country—and 28 on his career, which is tied with recent CSU alum Emmanuel Omogbo for most in program history and eighth-most in MW history.
Carvacho had another standout performance this week against No. 6 Nevada.
He recorded 24 points and 17 rebounds in the matchup, bringing him only 19 rebounds away from passing Pat Durham as CSU’s all-time rebounds leader. This comes after he started the season as CSU’s 20th all-time rebounder.
The aforementioned numbers have begun to draw the eye of the media and voters alike.
The award will be narrowed down to five finalists who will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame selection committee in March. The winner will be presented at the College Basketball Awards in Los Angeles, Cali. on April 12th.
More information on the awards can be found at hoophallawards.com.
Published on collegian.com Feb. 8, 2019.
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