Drew Timme finalist for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award

The top five centers in college basketball still in contention will continue to play through March as voting for position awards begins

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme is now a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. The West Coast Conference player of the year is on a list of the five top centers as decided by voters from the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.

Last season, Timme won the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award, but this season has been recategorized as a center while his teammate Chet Holmgren is on the finalist list for the Karl Malone award.

The other centers up for contention are Walker Kessler from Auburn, Connecticut’s Adama Sanogo, Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn and Oscar Tshiebwe from Kentucky The list of candidates has been shrunken from 20 centers when it was first announced in November, to 10 players late January and the final five will continue to play through March as the winner is decided.

Timme was a preseason All-American and has been on the all-WCC first team for two years in a row. He averaged the second most points a contest in the WCC this season at 17.6 on a 58.3% shooting clip, which ranks 17th nationally. The former all-WCC freshman center is averaging 6.4 rebounds and .89 blocked shots in a game so far this season.

Some of Timme’s competition for this end of the year award includes Kessler, who is the nation’s leader in blocks with 138 for the No. 3 team in the nation. There’s also Tshiebwe from Kentucky, who leads the nation in rebounds and has the second most double-doubles this season with 24 in 30 games. Cockburn has also been a threat for a highly ranked Illinois squad all season, scoring 21 points and hauling in 10.5 boards a game.

The award is in its eighth year. Last year’s winner was former Iowa big man Luka Garza.

A combination of fan votes and the opinions of Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame committee members will decide this season’s winners for all the position awards, including the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award recipient. People could begin voting starting Friday at hoophallawards.com.