UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr. Makes Julius Erving Award Preseason Watch List
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One of the Bruins' biggest stars has continued the team's run on preseason hardware.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame revealed the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award preseason watch list Wednesday, and UCLA men's basketball's Jaime Jaquez Jr. made the cut. Jaquez was also on the watch list heading into 2021, and he wound up as one of the five finalists for the award by the end of the season.
Joining Jaquez on the 20-man 2022 preseason watch list were Alabama's Brandon Miller, Arizona's Pelle Larsson, Arkansas' Jordan Walsh, Creighton's Baylor Scheierman, Duke's Dariq Whitehead, Florida State's Matthew Cleveland, Gonzaga's Julian Strawther, Kansas' Jalen Wilson, Kentucky's Chris Livingston, Minnesota's Jamison Battle, North Carolina's Leaky Black, Rutgers' Caleb McConnell, Stanford's Harrison Ingram, Tennessee's Josiah Jordan-James, Texas' Timmy Allen, Texas Tech's Kevin Obanor, Villanova's Cam Whitmore, Wisconsin's Tyler Wahl, Xavier's Colby Jones.
Of last season's five finalists, Jaquez is the only one who returned to the college ranks.
Jaquez is heading into his senior year, coming off nearly three seasons of being a full-time starter under coach Mick Cronin.
As a freshman, Jaquez opened the year coming off the bench, but broke into the starting five at the Maui Invitational. By the end of the year, he was an honorable mention for the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.
That was just the beginning of Jaquez's accolades, considering he put up 12.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 2020-2021 en route to All-Pac-12 Second Team honors. The following season, Jaquez made the All-Pac-12 First Team after averaging 13.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Jaquez was a member of the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team in each of the past two seasons.
Across the last three seasons, Jaquez has led the Bruins in steals three times, rebounds twice and points once. In each season he did not lead the team in total points, he ranked second, and he ranked second in assists each of the past two years.
Jaquez led UCLA to the Final Four in 2021, then followed that up by guiding his team to the Sweet 16 in 2022. Since he arrived out of Camarillo (CA), the Bruins have more NCAA tournament wins than any other team in the conference.
Through all the individual and team success last season, Jaquez was struggling with multiple ankle injuries. Jaquez underwent surgery in the offseason, though, and he is expected to get his explosiveness and deep shooting efficiency back this year – his 3-point percentage dropped from 39.4% to 27.6% amid the injuries.
According to multiple reports, Jaquez scored 27 points with three 3-pointers in UCLA's secret scrimmage against San Diego State on Sunday.
Jaquez made the preseason All-Pac-12 First Team on Monday. In ESPN's Pac-12 season preview, Jaquez was the panel's consensus pick to win Pac-12 Player of the Year.
Tyger Campbell was named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award preseason watch list on Monday, and he too was named to the preseason All-Pac-12 First Team. Amari Bailey was named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award preseason watch list on Tuesday, one day after he was made preseason All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA are the only schools with players are each of the first three preseason watch lists released.
The Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award preseason watch list will be revealed Thursday, while the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award preseason watch list will come out Friday.
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