Cade Cunningham Named Player of the Year Candidate
STILLWATER -- There was even more Cade Cunningham hype on Tuesday and I'm here for it. NCAA college basketball writer Andy Katz put out his top-10 contenders list for college basketball Player of the Year for the 2020-21 season and Cunningham was sitting rather comfortably among some of the best players in the country.
We'll start the list with 10 and work our way down to most likely to win.
- 10.) Sam Hauser - Virginia (senior, forward)
- 9.) Trayce Jackson-Davis - Indiana (sophomore, forward)
- 8.) Collin Gillespie - Villanova (senior, guard
- 7.) Marcus Zegarowski - Creighton (junior, guard)
- 6.) BJ Boston - Kentucky (freshman, forward)
- 5.) Remy Martin - Arizona State (senior, guard)
- 4.) Jared Butler - Baylor (junior guard)
- 3.) Cade Cunningham - Oklahoma State (freshman, forward)
- 2.) Ayo Dosunmu - Illinois (junior, guard)
- 1.) Luke Garza - Iowa (senior, forward)
This is what Katz had to say about Oklahoma State's freshman phenom.
If there is a reason Jared Butler won’t win Big 12 Player of the Year, it’s because of Cade Cunningham. Cunningham is the highest-rated freshman coming into the 2020-21 season and he bypassed the G League developmental program to come play for Oklahoma State. Be sure to keep an eye on Cunningham and Cowboys this year, as he is expected to put up a lot of points in a competitive Big 12.-NCAA, Andy Katz
Not only is Cunningham projected to be one of the best players in the Big 12, as well as the country, but he's being projected as the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
The Cowboys get the 2020-21 season going on Nov. 25, however the opponent has yet to be announced as everything's been pushed back from Nov. 10.
Mike Boynton and Co. is entering this season with a young and talented squad led by junior point guard Isaac Likekele and freshman sensation Cade Cunningham.
Returning from last season is a talented group of sophomores of guards Avery Anderson III and Chris Harris, and forwards Kalib Boone and Keylan Boone. There's also junior guard Dee Mitchell.
They're joined by a talented group of freshman and transfers that include the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2020 class in Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall prospect out of Canada in Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, four-star guards in Rondel Walker and Donovan Williams, extremely versatile and athletic stretch forward Montreal Pena, hot-handed transfer guards Ferron Flavors Jr. (grad transfer) and Bryce Williams, as well as big man Bernard Kouma (JUCO).
