To be the No. 1 team in the country requires not just one good player, but several. Arizona has shown that this season, with eight different leading scorers and seven who have put up 20 or more points.
Another indication of a team’s collective strength is having multiple players up for national awards. Count the Wildcats among that list.
Freshman guard Brayden Burries has made the midseason Top 10 for the Jerry West Award, given to college basketball’s top shooting guard. Burries was also on the preseason watch list released in October.
He joins senior Jaden Bradley, who on Monday was named to the midseason list for the Bob Cousy Award given to the game’s best point guard.
Burries, who is the reigning Big 12 named its Player and Newcomer of the Week after his performance in road wins over BYU and ASU, is the UA’s leading scorer and has been on a tear since conference play began. He’s averaging 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 52 percent overall and 39.5 percent from 3.
No UA player has won the Jerry West Award, though it’s had plenty of candidates. Caleb Love was a finalist the previous two seasons, when Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier and North Carolina’s RJ Davis won, respectively, while Bennedict Mathurin made the midseason list in 2022 and Allonzo Trier did so in 2018.
Arizona could have at least one other player on a midseason list for one of the Naismith Hall of Fame’s individual awards. Koa Peat was on the preseason watch list for the Karl Malone Award given to the best power forward, while center Motiejus Krivas should be in consideration for the midseason list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.
