North Carolina State University Athletics
Dennis Smith on Preseason Cousy Award Watch List
10/17/2016 6:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NC State freshman guard Dennis Smith, Jr., was one of 20 point guards selected to the 2017 preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Award, which was announced Monday by The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.
The Fayetteville, N.C. native is one of five freshmen on the preseason list.
Smith was a consensus five-star recruit coming out of Trinity Christian Academy and is the highest-ranked recruit to sign with the Wolfpack since the Recruiting Services Consensus Index began ranking prospects in 1998.Â
The No. 4 overall recruit and No. 1 point guard in the 2016 class according to ESPN.com, Smith elected to graduate high school early in order to enroll at NC State in January of 2016 after injuring his knee in August of 2015.
Smith led Trinity Christian to a state championship as a sophomore and as a junior averaged 22.2 points per game on his way to being named North Carolina's Gatorade Player of the Year.
The Cousy Award has been given annually since the 2003-04 season to the top point guard in college basketball.
The list will be narrowed down to 10 in mid-February and then five finalists will be se-lected in March that will be presented to Bob Cousy and the selection committee. The winner of the award will be presented at the 3rd annual ESPN College Basketball Awards Show live from Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 7th.
