Arizona standouts Bennedict Mathurin and Azuolas Tubelis received another incentive Monday when neither one of them was named to the 50-player Naismith Award watch list -- even as Mathurin is increasingly being projected as a NBA lottery pick in 2022.
(Update: The Wooden Award's Preseason Top 50 list also did not include any UA players when it was released Tuesday.)
However, they'll have plenty of chances to prove themselves this season against players who made the list.
Among those on the Naismith watch list who are scheduled to face the Wildcats include Wichita State's Tyson Etienne, Illinois' Andre Curbelo and Kofi Cockburn, UCLA's Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez, Tennessee's Kennedy Chandler, USC's Isaiah Mobley and Oregon's Will Richardson.
A few other names familiar to the Wildcats also made the Naismith list: Former UA guard Alex Barcello of BYU, former UA commit Jahvon Quinerly of Alabama and former UA recruiting target TyTy Washington of Kentucky.
Most of the names were the same on the Wooden list, though Barcello was not on it and UCLA's Tyger Campbell was.
