Kansas Trio on Naismith Preseason Watch List
Oct. 29, 2009
Kansas basketball senior Sherron Collins, junior Cole Aldrich and freshman Xavier Henry have been named to 50-member Naismith Award Preseason Watch list for 2009-10 the Atlanta Tip-Off Club announced Thursday.
Collins and Aldrich were also named Wooden Award preseason candidates in August. Henry is on his first preseason list as a Jayhawk. Kansas is the only school to have three student-athletes represented on the Naismith list, while five other schools have two candidates.
Collins, who was on the same list last year, was an All-Big 12 First Team selection last season when he was third in the Big 12 with an 18.9 scoring average. The 5-11, 205-pound, Chicago guard posted 14 games of 20-plus points in 2008-09, including a career-high 32 points against North Dakota State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Entering his senior season, KU is 91-16 (85 percent) in games Collins has played, including three Big 12 regular-season championships, two Big 12 postseason championships, two NCAA Elite Eights, three Sweet 16s and one national championship.
“Like the Wooden (Award), this is really cool for Cole and Xavier,” Collins said. “But this is preseason and as a leader, I have to get my team better day-in and day-out.”
Aldrich, who will be nominated for Academic All-American this season, was also a 2009 All-Big 12 First Team selection when he averaged a double-double with 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds. The 6-11, 245-pound, Bloomington, Minn., center led the Big 12 in blocked shots with 2.7 per game. Aldrich recorded the first official triple-double in school history with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocked shots against Dayton in the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament before his hometown crowd at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. Additionally, Aldrich’s 94 blocked shots in 2008-09 are second on the KU single-season list.
Henry, (6-6, 225) was on most all-high school All-American teams last spring averaging 28.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals in leading Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City to the state championship. The two-time Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year was ranked as the No. 3 recruit by ESPN 100 Recruiting.
“I sure didn’t expect this, but did expect it for Sherron and Cole. It is a great honor,” Henry said. “Right now we are just trying to work hard as a team in practice and listen to our coaches and learn.”
2009-10 Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List:
Solomon Alabi, Florida State
Cole Aldrich, KANSAS
Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest
James Anderson, Oklahoma State
Luke Babbitt, Nevada
Talor Battle, Penn State
Trevor Booker, Clemson
Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga
Craig Brackins, Iowa State
Avery Bradley, Texas
Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia
Patrick Christopher, California
Sherron Collins, KANSAS
Ed Davis, North Carolina
Devan Downey, South Carolina
Jerome Dyson, Connecticut
Devin Ebanks, West Virginia
Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
Manny Harris, Michigan
Gordon Hayward, Butler
Lazar Hayward, Marquette
Xavier Henry, KANSAS
Robbie Hummel, Purdue
Damion James, Texas
Jerome Jordan, Tulsa
Sylven Landesberg, Virginia
Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech
Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU
Greg Monroe, Georgetown
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky
Jerome Randle, California
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova
Samardo Samuels, Louisville
Larry Sanders, VCU
Kyle Singler, Duke
Tyler Smith, Tennessee
Isaiah Thomas, Washington
Evan Turner, Ohio State
Edwin Ubiles, Siena
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State
Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
Kemba Walker, Connecticut
John Wall, Kentucky
Willie Warren, Oklahoma
Terrico White, Mississippi
Nic Wise, Arizona
Chris Wright, Dayton
