:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70661477/1364143897.0.jpg)
While their season did not end like they hoped it would, two members of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team are still in the running for two major national awards. Sophomore wing Johnny Davis is one of the four finalists for the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year and head coach Greg Gard is one of four finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year award.
4…3…2…1…
— The Naismith Trophy (@NaismithTrophy) March 22, 2022
Presenting the 2022 @jerseymikes Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Finalists
Winner to be announced April 3rd⏱
: https://t.co/L415ThAoPs pic.twitter.com/8P1ZqNp7bJ
Davis averaged 19.7 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game and 2.2 assists per game during the regular season while earning first team All-Big Ten honors and winning Big Ten Player of the Year. He was also a consensus first team All-American, as he was listed on the first team for the AP, USBWA, NABC and Sporting News.
The other finalists for the award are senior guard Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), sophomore forward Keegan Murray (Iowa) and Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), a junior forward, all consensus All-Americans in their own right. Agbaji was Big 12 Player of the Year while Tshiebwe was SEC Player of the Year and was named the Sporting News National Player of the Year.
The women’s finalists are junior forward Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), sophomore guard Caitlin Clark (Iowa), junior guard Haley Jones (Stanford) and senior forward NaLyssa Smith (Baylor).
Congrats to Coach Gard on being named 1 of 4 finalists for @NaismithTrophy National Coach of the Year award #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/bQTNqiBJD5
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) March 21, 2022
The finalists joining Gard for the men’s coach of the year award are Mark Adams (Texas Tech), Ed Cooley (Providence College) and Tommy Lloyd (Arizona). Gard earned Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons this year and will try and top of the season with the national award. Picked to finish tenth in the preseason poll, Gard led the Badgers to a 24-6 regular season record (15-5 in the conference), the fifth-highest regular-season win total in program history and won a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
The women’s finalists are Kim Mulkey (LSU), Dawn Staley (South Carolina), Tara VanDerveer (Stanford) and Wes Moore (NC State). Moore is the only finalist that has not won the award before.