Josh Hawkinson named to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar watch list

Washington State junior forward Josh Hawkinson is one of four Pac-12 basketball players named to the 20-member watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award Watch List, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Friday.

The others are Arizona’s Caleb Tarczewski, Colorado’s Josh Scott and Jacob Poeltl of Utah.

The award is named for UCLA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was named the National College Player of the Year all three years he played for the Bruins varsity team (1967-69).

The list will be winnowed to 10 players by mid-February and then five finalists will be presented to the award’s selection committee in March. Here is all of Hawkinson’s competition for the award:

2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Candidates

Kaleb Tarczewski , Arizona

Mamadou N’Djiaye , UC Irvine

Josh Scott , Colorado

Egidijus Mockevicius , Evansville

Przemek Karnowski , Gonzaga

Thomas Bryant , Indiana

Jameel McKay , Iowa State

Cheick Diallo , Kansas

Skal Labissiere , Kentucky

Diamond Stone , Maryland

Stephen Zimmerman , UNLV

Kennedy Meeks , North Carolina

Zach Auguste , Notre Dame

AJ Hammons , Purdue

Jakob Poeltl , Utah

Damian Jones , Vanderbilt

Daniel Ochefu , Villanova

Josh Hawkinson , Washington State

Joel Bolomboy , Weber State

Devin Williams , West Virginia