Krutwig Named to Abdul-Jabbar Watch List

Editor: The following is a combination of portions of releases from loyolaramblers.com and hoopshalls.com.

(Chicago, IL) – Cameron Krutwig, a standout center on the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team, has been named to the 2021 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Watch List, it was announced today.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today the 20 watch list members for the 2021 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. Named after Class of 1995 Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its seventh year recognizes the top centers in men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played for legendary coach and Hall of Famer John Wooden at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1966-1969. He is a three-time NCAA Champion who earned numerous accolades including three-time Final Four Most Outstanding Player, three-time National College Player of the Year and three-time Consensus First-Team All-American (1967-1969). As a professional, Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA Champion, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time NBA All-Star and the league’s all-time leading scorer.

This is the second time in his career that the 6-foot-9 senior has been selected to the 20-player watch list. The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award recognizes the top center in college basketball. A national committee of top collegiate basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

A three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree, including a first-team pick in each of the last two years, the versatile big man averaged 15.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocked per game in 2019-20, while also draining 56.3 percent (201-for-357) of his field goal attempts. Krutwig became the first player in the storied history of the Missouri Valley Conference to rank in the top five in the league in scoring, rebounding, assists and field goal percentage and his 4.2 assists per contest led all centers in NCAA Division I basketball.

Krutwig, who also excels in the classroom and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 pick a season ago, enters the 2020-21 campaign with 1,384 points and 737 rebounds to his credit and is one of only seven players in program history to accumulate at least 1,300 points and 700 boards in his career. In a victory over Vanderbilt last December, he became the first Rambler in program history to record a triple-double, going for 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The winner of the 2021 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be presented on Friday, April 9, 202, along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award and the Karl Malone Power Forward Award, in addition to the Women’s Starting Five.

Previous winners of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award include Luka Garza (Iowa), Ethan Happ (Wisconsin), Angel Delgado (Seton Hall), Przemek Karnowski (Gonzaga), Jakob Poetl (Utah) and Frank Kaminsky (Wisconsin).