SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UCLA freshman Moses Brown has been selected as one of 21 players to the watch list for the 2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, as announced Friday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Brown, a 7-foot-1 center from Queens in New York City, averaged 26.0 points, 17.0 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game as a senior last season at Archbishop Molloy High School. He was ranked as the No. 18 player in his high school class by ESPN.com and was tabbed as the No. 2 player in the state of New York by NYCHoops.net.
Named after Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor is in its fifth year recognizing the top centers in men's college basketball. A national committee comprising top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 21 candidates.
Brown becomes the third UCLA player this week to be named to a positional watch list. Sophomore Jaylen Hands was selected to the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award, while sophomore Kris Wilkes was named to the watch list for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
By mid-February of 2019, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award's watch list of 21 players will be narrowed to 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the award's selection committee. The winner of this season's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be honored at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show presented by Wendy's in Los Angeles on Friday, April 12.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Candidates (2018-19)
| Student-Athlete | School |
| Daniel Gafford | Arkansas |
| Austin Wiley | Auburn |
| Tacko Fall | Central Florida (UCF) |
| James Thompson IV | Eastern Michigan |
| Jessie Govan | Georgetown |
| Killian Tillie | Gonzaga |
| Alessandro Lever | Grand Canyon |
| Udoka Azubuike | Kansas |
| Nick Richards | Kentucky |
| Cameron Krutwig | Loyola Chicago |
| Naz Reid | LSU |
| Jalen Smith | Maryland |
| Dewan Hernandez | Miami |
| Nick Ward | Michigan State |
| Jontay Porter | Missouri |
| Bol Bol | Oregon |
| Moses Brown | UCLA |
| James Dickey | UNC Greensboro |
| Charles Bassey | Western Kentucky |
| Nathan Knight | William & Mary |
| Ethan Happ | Wisconsin |