Arizona center Christian Koloko (35) rises above the crowd to slam home a bucket, the first of three in a row for him, against Cal Baptist in the second half of their NCAA men's basketball game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.., December 18, 2021.

Arizona center Christian Koloko was one of 30 players named to the Lute Olson Award's midseason watch list.

Named after the legendary former Arizona coach, theΒ award began in 2010 to name the top non-freshman and non-transfer in college basketball but appears to have since expanded to include all players.

There are already four major college basketball player of the year awards: the Associated Press Player of the Year, Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA).

The Olson watch list not only included Koloko and two other Pac-12 players -- UCLA's Johnny Juzang and USC's Isaiah Mobley -- but also former Wildcat guards Alex Barcello and James Akinjo.

However, UA wing Bennedict Mathurin was not named to the Olson list, after he was named to the Wooden Award watch list earlier this month.


UA signee Dylan Anderson was one of nearly 800 players nominated for McDonalds All-American honors though he wasn't on the Naismith Award's high school midseason team.


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