University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Mara Selected to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Watch List
October 27, 2023 | Men's Basketball
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UCLA freshman Aday Mara has been named to the 20-person watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, presented annually to the nation's best center.
Mara, a 7-foot-3 freshman from Zaragoza, Spain, joined the Bruins in September after having excelled in multiple age-group divisions within his home country of Spain. In July of 2023, he averaged 14.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 blocks for Spain in seven contests at the FIBA U18 European Championships, hosted in Serbia. He shot 61.3 percent at the FIBA U18 European Championships, connecting on 38 of 62 shot attempts.
Mara becomes UCLA's second frontcourt player in as many days to be named to a positional preseason watch list. Sophomore Adem Bona was named to the preseason watch list for the Karl Malone Award (Power Forward of the Year) on Thursday morning. The other three positional awards in men's college basketball include the Bob Cousy Award (point guard), the Jerry West Award (shooting guard) and the Julius Erving Award (small forward).
Mara joins Arizona's Oumar Ballo, Utah's Branden Carlson and Oregon's N'Faly Dante as the four Pac-12 players selected to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award's watch list. He is one of just two freshmen on the 20-person watch list, along with Kentucky's Aaron Bradshaw.
College basketball's positional watch lists are compiled each season by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Fans can participate in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the award's three rounds, beginning on Friday, Oct. 27. In late January, the watch list of 20 players will be narrowed to 10. In late February, the list will be reduced to just five student-athletes. The winner of the 2024 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five.
The 2023-24 season will mark the 10th year in which the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award recognizes the nation's top center. The award honors for UCLA standout Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who helped lead the Bruins' program to three consecutive NCAA titles from 1967-1969. A three-time National College Player of the Year selection while at UCLA (then known as Lew Alcindor), Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time NBA Champion, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, two-time NBA Finals MVP and a 19-time NBA All-Star.
Last season, Purdue center Zach Edey won the 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe earned the award in 2022. Iowa's Luka Garza was honored as the award recipient in 2020 and 2021.
The list of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award candidates remains fluid, as student-athletes have the ability to play themselves on or off the list until the five finalists are announced later this season.
For more information on this year's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award and all of the latest updates, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophallu on X (Twitter) and Instagram.
2023-24 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Candidates
Oumar Ballo (Arizona)
Johni Broome (Auburn)
Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton)
Kel'el Ware (Indiana)
Hunter Dickinson (Kansas)
Aaron Bradshaw (Kentucky)
Jordan Brown (Memphis)
Dawson Garcia (Minnesota)
Armando Bacot (North Carolina)
Jamarion Sharp (Ole Miss)
N'Faly Dante (Oregon)
Zach Edey (Purdue)
Clifford Omoruyi (Rutgers)
Joel Soriano (St. John's)
Aday Mara (UCLA)
Donovan Clingan (UConn)
Josh Cohen (UMass)
Branden Carlson (Utah)
Eric Dixon (Villanova)
Jesse Edwards (West Virginia)
