UCLA's Adem Bona Makes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Preseason Watch List

The Bruins closed out the week with yet another individual honor for one of their rising stars.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame revealed the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award preseason watch list Wednesday, and UCLA men's basketball's Adem Bona made the cut. Bona was a McDonald's All-American and five-star prospect coming out of Prolific Prep (CA), and he is set to be a key figure in coach Mick Cronin's post rotation as a true freshman.

Joining Bona on the 20-man 2022 preseason watch list were UConn's Adama Sanogo, North Carolina's Armando Bacot, Utah's Braden Carlson, Alabama's Charles Bediako, Rutgers' Cliff Omoruyi, Florida's Colin Castleton, Duke's Derek Lively II, Texas Tech's Fardaws Aimaq, Michigan's Hunter Dickinson, Xavier's Jack Nunge, Western Kentucky's Jamarion Sharp, Oregon's Kel'el Ware, Oklahoma State's Moussa Cisse, Arizona's Oumar Ballo, Kentucky's Oscar Tchiebwe, Iowa State's Osun Osunniyi, Clemson's PJ Hall, Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner and Purdue's Zach Edey.

Bona is one of three freshmen on the list, with Lively and Ware standing in as the others.

The Nigerian-born big man put up 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game with Prolific Prep his senior year, guiding his team to a 26-7 record and a top-25 national ranking. Bona himself got plenty of hype as well, becoming a consensus five-star recruit and working his way up to the No. 16 overall spot in the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Over the summer, Bona played for Turkey at the FIBA U20 European Championships in Montenegro. Bona averaged 17.0 points and 10.9 rebounds per game with a player efficiency rating of 24.1 throughout the tournament, also asserting himself as one of the best shot-blockers in the field.

After the highlights from Europe started to make the rounds, Bona went from being looked at as a project to a true one-and-done candidate.

Bona is projected to be a day-one starter for UCLA, considering veterans Cody Riley and Myles Johnson both left the program in the spring. The other members of the post rotation include Mac Etienne – who is still just 12 months removed from tearing his ACL – and Kenny Nwuba – who has yet to average more than 7 minutes per game in any of his four previous seasons in Westwood – meaning Bona will likely have to shoulder a heavy minutes load early on.

Tyger Campbell was named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award preseason watch list on Monday, while Amari Bailey was named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award preseason watch list on Tuesday. Jaime Jaquez Jr. was named to the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award preseason watch list on Wednesday, making UCLA one of just four programs to get players onto the first three positional watch lists.

While the Bruins missed out on the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award on Thursday – thanks, in part, to the team not having or using a traditional power forward under Cronin – they have four players on preseason positional watch lists for the second year in a row.

Both Bailey and Bona managed to earn those spots before ever appearing in a college game, signifying the elevated hype around the two blue chip prospects suiting up in blue and gold this year.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF JAN KIM LIM/UCLA ATHLETICS

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