WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue seniors Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith have been named to the initial National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Player of the Year watch list, the organization announced Thursday morning.
Purdue is the only school to have two players named on the 20-player watch list, and the duo is joined on the list by Big Ten brethren Donovan Dent (UCLA), Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan) and Bennett Stirtz (Iowa).
The duo was named preseason first-team All-Big Ten and have been mentioned on almost every preseason All-American team.
Smith, a senior guard from Westfield, Indiana, is the lone returning first-team All-American in the country after averaging 15.8 points, 8.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds a year ago. He won the Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard last season and has 1,375 points, 758 assists and 535 rebounds in his three seasons at Purdue. He is the only player in Big Ten history, and one of 16 players in NCAA history, to have even 1,300 career points, 700 assists and 500 rebounds, and he has a full season to play.
Smith needs just 125 points and 242 assists to become the first player in NCAA history with 1,500 points, 1,000 assists and 500 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Kaufman-Renn, a senior forward from Sellersburg, Indiana, was named to the team after averaging 20.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists a year while shooting just under 60 percent the field. Kaufman-Renn, a first-team All-Big Ten honoree a year ago, is the only returning high-major player nationally from last season to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and two assists per game.
Kaufman-Renn has scored in double-figures in eight straight games and finished last year with 723 points, the 10th-most points scored by a Purdue player in school history. He had 12, 20-point games in the last 15 contests last season.
Purdue opens its regular season on Nov. 4, when Evansville visits Mackey Arena.