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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga trio on Wooden Award 50-player preseason watch list

Gonzaga’s Zach Norvell Jr. reacts to a call during the first half of last season’s Sweet 16 game against Florida State. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Rui Hachimura has become a familiar name on preseason watch lists, with Killian Tillie not far behind and Zach Norvell Jr. receiving several mentions.

For the third time this week, Hachimura was listed on a national player of the year watch list, the latest being the Wooden Award. Tillie is on the Wooden preseason 50 after making the watch list for the Naismith Trophy earlier this week.

Norvell made it three Zags on the Wooden watch list. Duke (RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Zion Williamson) and Kentucky (Keldon Johnson, Reid Travis, and P.J. Washington) also had three selections. Indiana, Kansas, Michigan State, Nevada, North Carolina, Villanova and Virginia each have two representatives.

Hachimura is on the player of the year watch lists for the Wooden, Naismith and NABC, as well as the Julius Erving Award presented to college basketball’s top small forward.

Tillie (12.9) and Norvell (12.7) are Gonzaga’s top returning scorers. Hachimura led the Zags with an average of 12.9 points in West Coast Conference games.

The Wooden list includes 19 seniors, 34 upperclassmen and eight freshmen. The ACC tops all conferences with 10 selections. Gonzaga’s three representatives equal the total of Pac-12 selections.