BOSTON – Four Southern Conference men’s basketball student-athletes are among the 50 players on the initial watch list for the 2021-22 Lou Henson National Player of the Year award, as announced late Thursday by CollegeInsider.com.
 
The Citadel’s Hayden Brown, ETSU’s Ledarrius Brewer, Mercer’s Neftali Alvarez and Chattanooga’s Malachi Smith are among the initial players to watch for the award, which is presented annually to the top mid-major player in Division I college basketball and honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons.
 
All four players were named to the preseason All-SoCon team, with Brown tabbed the preseason player of the year by the league’s 10 head coaches.
 
Players on teams from the following conferences are eligible for the award: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast.

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2021-22 Lou Henson Award watch list
Max Abmas 6-1 Jr. Oral Roberts
Fardaws Aimaq 6-11 So. Utah Valley
Theo Akwuba 6-11 Jr. Louisiana
Corey Allen 6-2 Sr. Georgia State
Neftali Alvarez 6-2 Jr. Mercer
Ahsan Asadullah 6-9 Jr. Lipscomb
Patrick Baldwin Jr. 6-9 Fr. Milwaukee
Ledarrius Brewer 6-5 Jr. ETSU
Johni Broome 6-10 So. Morehead State
Jamaree Bouyea 6-2 Sr. San Francisco
Hayden Brown 6-5 Sr. The Citadel
Tevin Brown 6-5 Jr. Murray State
D.J. Burns 6-9 Jr. Winthrop
Ryan Davis 6-8 Sr. Vermont
Antoine Davis Jr. 6-1 Sr. Detroit Mercy
Ty Flowers 6-9 Sr. Long Island University
A.J. Green 6-4 Jr. Northern Iowa
ShanQuan Hemphill 6-6 Sr. Drake
Tanner Holden 6-6 Jr. Wright State
Tevian Jones 6-7 Sr. Southern Utah
Nelly Junior Joseph 6-9 So. Iona
Tyreke Key 6-3 Sr. Indiana State
Peter Kiss 6-5 Sr. Bryant
Rocky Kreuser 6-10 Sr. North Dakota State
Kameron Langley 6-2 Sr. North Carolina A&T
Darius McGhee 5-9 Sr. Liberty
Jayveous McKinnis 6-7 Sr. Jackson State
Jalen Moore 5-11 Jr. Oakland
Isiaih Mosely 6-5 Jr. Missouri State
Grayson Murphy 6-2 Jr. Belmont
Nick Muszynski 6-11 Jr. Belmont
KC Ndefo 6-7 Sr. Saint Peter’s
Elijah Olyani 6-5 Sr. Stony Brook
Norchad Omier 6-7 So. Arkansas State
Roman Penn 6-0 Sr. Drake
Gaige Prim 6-9 Sr. Missouri State
Jalen Ray 6-2 Sr. Hofstra
Ryan Rollins 6-4 So. Toledo
Eli Scott 6-5 Sr. Loyola Marymount
Malachi Smith 6-4 So. Chattanooga
Amadou Sow 6-9 Sr. UC Santa Barbara
Azar Swain 6-0 Sr. Yale
Ben Vander Plas 6-8 Sr. Ohio
De’Torrion Ware 6-4 Jr. Morgan State
Collin Welp 6-9 Sr. UC Irvine
Walter Whyte 6-6 Sr. Boston University
Jeenathan Williams 6-5 Sr. Buffalo
Douglas Wilson 6-7 Sr. South Dakota State
John Michael Wright 6-0 Jr. High Point
Camren Wynter 6-2 Sr. Drexel