North Carolina State University Athletics
Dennis Smith Jr., on Naismith Trophy Watch List
11/10/2016 11:31:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Fayetteville, N.C. native adds to list of preseason honors
NC State freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr., is one of 50 players on the Naismith Trophy watch list, selected by a national panel of voters and released Thursday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
The prestigious award has been given annually since 1969 to the nation's best college basketball player and is named for Dr. James Naismith, who invented the game of basketball 125 years ago in Springfield, Mass.
The Fayetteville, N.C. native is one of 12 freshmen on the watch list.
This is the second watch list Smith has made this season. In October, Smith was named to the Bob Cousy Award watch list. The Cousy Award is given annually to the top point guard in college basketball.
Also in October, Smith was named the ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year. Smith is vying to become the only the second Wolfpack player to earn ACC Rookie of the Year honors. Hawkeye Whitney was co-Rookie of the Year with Duke's Mike Gminski in 1977.
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.
Subsequent cuts will trim the field to 30 players on Feb. 9th, 10 semifinalists on March 1st and four finalists will be announced on March 19th. The award will be presented at the Naismith Awards banquet on April 2 during the Final Four in Phoenix.
