Miami's Star Guard Named to the Bob Cousy Preseason Watchlist
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No. 14 Miami prepares for No. 1 Florida in one of the most underrated games to start the college basketball season with some of the best players in the country.
Miami's starting lineup includes three of the top position players in the country, and some are starting to take notice, with a watchlist being presented for the season.
Miami's new star guard Acaden Lewis has been tabbed to the Bob Cousy Preseason Watchlist.
Lewis enters his first season with the Hurricanes following a standout freshman campaign at Villanova, where he earned Second Team All-BIG EAST honors and was a unanimous selection to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team.
The star player has added a new level of guard play for the Hurricanes this season and is a walking double-double. That was seen in the Vanderbilt exhibition match, even though he also had seven turnovers.
Moreover, Jai Lucas loves everything that Lewis can do on the floor, even if some things do bother him a bit.
"Acaden is a basketball savant," Lucas said. "Some of these things I have to let go of because he can just create and make things happen. He shouldn't have seven turnovers in a game. But I thought he played well, getting into the paint and making the reads and kicking it out against the pressure, and it really helped us get started."
In his freshman season with the Wildcats, the Washington, D.C., native averaged 12.2 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game while starting all 33 games.
He set Villanova freshman records with 176 assists and 63 steals, becoming the first Wildcat to average at least five assists per game in a season since 1998-99.
That same level of talent is now in the hands of Lucas, who can turn into a first-round pick at the end of the season.
Here are the 20 players on the 2026-27 Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List:
Markus Burton, Indiana
Elliot Cadeau, Michigan
Jason Crowe Jr., Missouri
Silas Demary Jr., UConn
Donovan Dent, LSU
Quinn Ellis, St. John's
Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State
Boogie Fland, Florida
Aden Holloway, Alabama
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Nigel James Jr., Marquette
Acaden Lewis, Miami
Chance Mallory, Virginia
Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Miles Sadler, West Virginia
Jackson Shelstad, Louisville
Jordan Smith Jr., Arkansas
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
Dedan Thomas Jr., Houston
Robert Wright III, BYU
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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