CU's Scott Among Early Leaders For Abdul-Jabbar Award

BOULDER — College basketball fans — particularly Colorado basketball fans — may want to set a special notification on their calendars for Jan. 8.

It has all the promise of a big day, in every sense of the word.

That's the day the Buffs and Utah — two of the Pac-12's top three teams in the current NCAA RPI — play at the Coors Events Center (7 p.m., Fox Sports).

It's also the day that two of the nation's premier big men, CU's Josh Scott and Utah's Jakob Poeltl, will square off in their first of at least two meetings this year.

Scott and Poeltl are two of 20 players on the national watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, given to the top center in the nation. And while it's early — obviously — Scott and Poeltl are quickly establishing themselves as favorites to at least advance to the second round of the process, when the list is winnowed down to 10 in mid-February.

The award, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and named after one of the greatest big men ever to play the game, was won last year by Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky. Other finalists were Duke's Jahlil Okafor and Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein.

Scott, a senior, and Poeltl, a sophomore, are among the top three scorers and top seven rebounders on this year's list. The watch list also includes two other Pac-12 players, Washington State's Josh Hawkinson and Arizona's Kaleb Tarczewski, with both scheduled to make appearances in Boulder later this year (although Tarczewski is currently out with a foot injury).

Washington State comes to Boulder on Feb. 11 while Arizona visits on Feb. 24.

Scott is a very big reason the Buffs are off to a 7-1 start. He's averaging 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. He's already recorded four double-doubles this season and is shooting 49-for-68 from the field over his last seven games.

Scott and Poeltl are neck-and-neck in a number of Pac-12 statistical categories, including:

Scoring: Poeltl leads the conference with a 21.3 average; Scott is fourth at 18.3

Rebounding: Poeltl is second (9.9); Scott is third (9.8).

Field goal percentage: Poeltl is tied for first (.692); Scott is fourth (.643).

Blocks: Poeltl has 20; Scott has 19.

But according to the latest RPI — the Buffs are No. 16, the Utes are No. 23 — the Buffs have played a more difficult schedule, currently ranked as the 33rd most difficult in the nation thus far. Utah's strength of schedule is ranked 45th.

Colorado's only loss this year came at the hands of Iowa State on a neutral court. In that game, Scott outplayed another Abdul-Jabbar Award candidate, ISU's Jameel McKay. Scott finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while McKay had eight points, 10 rebounds and no blocks.

Utah's only loss came at the hands of Miami, 90-66, in a tournament in Puerto Rico. The Utes' biggest wins thus far have been home victories over San Diego State and BYU. Colorado plays host to BYU on Saturday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).

Other players atop the early statistical list are West Virginia's Devin Williams, Evansville's Egidijus Mockevicius, Washington State's Hawkinson and Weber State's Joel Bolomboy.

Williams is second in scoring (18.7) and fifth in rebounding (10.7). Mockevicius is first on the list (and second in the nation) in rebounding at 13.3 per game while Hawkinson is averaging 16.4 points and 9.0 rebounds and Bolomboy is checking in at 16.0 points and 11.9 rebounds.

While there's technically no guideline in terms of a team's overall performance affecting a player's chances for winning the award, it no doubt helps — last year's three finalists all appeared in the NCAA Final Four.

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR WATCH LIST

Jakob Poeltl, Utah

Devin Williams, West Virginia

Josh Scott, Colorado

Egidijus Mockevicius, Evansville

Josh Hawkinson, Washington State

Joel Bolomboy, Weber State

Zach Auguste, Notre Dame

Jameel McKay, Iowa State

Kennedy Meeks, North Carolina

AJ Hammons, Purdue

Skal Labissiere, Kentucky