KU’s Quentin Grimes, K-State’s Barry Brown on Jerry West shooting guard watch list
Kansas freshman Quentin Grimes and Kansas State senior Barry Brown are two of 20 candidates for the 2019 Jerry West shooting guard of the year award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.
Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver was the only other Big 12 player on the list.
Named after Hall of Famer Jerry West, the honor, in its fifth year, recognizes the country’s top shooting guard.
The 6-foot-5 Grimes averaged 29.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists his senior season at College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas. Grimes was MVP of the 2018 FIBA Americas Under 18 championships in June in Canada after averaging 14.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for the gold-medal winning team.
Brown, a second-team all-Big 12 selection last season, averaged 15.9 points on 44.8 percent shooting. He hit 31.8 percent (42-of-132) of his threes and also contributed 3.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 34.7 minutes per game. The 6-3 senior from Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., last season became the first Wildcat in school history to post at least 500 points, 100 rebounds, 100 assists and 50 steals in a single season.
Other West shooting award candidates: Bryce Brown, Auburn; Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati; Kellan Grady, Davidson; R.J. Barrett, Duke; KeVaughn Allen, Florida; Zach Norvell, Gonzaga; Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra; Romeo Langford, Indiana; Tyler Herro, Kentucky; Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi State; James Palmer, Nebraska; T.J. Gibbs, Notre Dame; Mustapha Heron, St. John’s; Tyus Battle, Syracuse; Kyle Guy, Virginia; Jaylen Nowell, Washington and Fletcher Magee, Wofford.
The winner of the 2019 Jerry West Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show on April 12 in Los Angeles.
KU in the NBA
KU enters the 2018-19 season with 12 players on the roster of NBA teams.
The Washington Wizards (Markieff Morris, Kelly Oubre) and Sacramento Kings (Frank Mason, Ben McLemore) each have two former KU players on the roster. Other Jayhawks in the NBA: Cheick Diallo, New Orleans; Joel Embiid, Philadelphia; Devonté Graham, Charlotte; Josh Jackson, Phoenix; Marcus Morris, Boston; Svi Mykhailiuk, Los Angeles Lakers; Wayne Selden, Memphis and Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota.
Robinson-Earl completes five visits
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a 6-9 senior forward from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., has completed five official visits — to Kansas, Arizona, Villanova, North Carolina and Notre Dame. He’s also made unofficial visits to four of the five — KU, UNC, Arizona and Notre Dame. The No. 10-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2019 by Rivals.com has not yet set a decision date.
“Because of the homework he’s done on the programs recruiting him, I doubt that Robinson-Earl has many more questions that he needs answered. With that in mind, I would expect that a decision would be rendered in the relatively near future,” writes Eric Bossi of Rivals.com.
“This is a situation that we’ll be monitoring very closely over the next week or so and if I have to pick I’ll still give Kansas the edge, but again I don’t label Robinson-Earl as any kind of lock,” Bossi writes.
Gary Bedore
Gary Bedore covers University of Kansas athletics for The Star.
