BOSTON - UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday has been named as one of 40 players selected to the watch list for the 2017-18 Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award, as announced on Monday. The annual honor recognizes the nation's top Division I player who has played at least two seasons.

Holiday, a 6-foot-1 guard from Chatsworth, Calif., has averaged 11.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists the past two seasons - playing in 68 career games during that span. Through his first two seasons, he has shot 41.4 percent (92 for 222) from three-point range in his career, currently standing as the sixth-highest career percentage at UCLA.

Last season, Holiday played in all 36 games averaging 12.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He was one of five UCLA players to average double-figure scoring and ranked second on the team in assists per game and steals per game. Holiday also secured his first collegiate double-double in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Kent State with 15 points and 11 assists.

The 2017-18 Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award will be announced on March 31, 2018 at the CollegeInsider.com Awards Event in San Antonio, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.

The award is named after coach Lute Olson won 780 games in 34 seasons, 24 of which were spent at the University of Arizona. During that stretch he led the Wildcats to 11 Pac-10 Conference titles, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, four Final Four appearances and a National Championship in 1997.

Previous winners of the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award include Caleb Swanigan (2017, Purdue), Denzel Valentine (2016, Michigan State) and Cameron Payne (2015, Murray State).