(Kansas City, Missouri) Northwest Missouri State’s Ryan Hawkins (Atlantic, Iowa) and Trevor Hudgins (Manhattan, Kansas) were each named to the 2020 Bevo Francis Award Top 25 watch list.
The Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee made the announcement on Sunday. This list consists of some of the top players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA Division I, NAIA Division II, USCAA, and NCCAA. John McCarthy had this to say about this year’s Top 25 watch list.
The Bearcat duo was earlier named first-team all-MIAA selections after helping lead Northwest to a 31-1 record that included MIAA regular season and tournament titles.
2020 marks the fifth year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, and Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019. John McCarthy had this to add about this year’s award.
“On behalf of the National Awards Committee, I congratulate the 25 players that have made the Bevo Francis Watch List of 25 players. Clearly, this is a highly prestigious group of players that have helped lead their teams to great heights. It is important to note that this is an individual award, yet team success is an important criterion; as such, all of the players on this list have helped to lead their team to their respective national tournament and all of these teams have won more than 20 games, with more than half of them winning 25 games or more. These players are the elite of the elite, and I sincerely congratulate each and every one of them.”
The Clarence “Bevo” Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character, and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
On April 4th, the finalist of this year’s award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 6th. To stay up to date on all things Small College Basketball, please head to smallcollegebasketball.com.
(Photo L-R: RyanHawkins and Trevor Hudgins)
