ATLANTA, Ga. — The Atlanta Tipoff Club released its preseason Naismith Trophy watch list for men’s college basketball on Monday, Nov. 2, naming 50 players who will be tracked for national player of the year honors this winter. Iowa State senior guard Tamin Lipsey is one of 10 Big 12 players on the list.
Lipsey is back in Ames for a fifth season after a Monroe County Circuit Court judge in Indiana issued a temporary order in his favor tied to the Daley eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA. He went undrafted in June and started two NBA Summer League games for the Indiana Pacers before an injury cut his summer short.
His Iowa State resume is long. Lipsey owns the school record for career steals at 313 and sits fourth in assists with 602. His 137 starts are a program high. Last season he averaged 13.5 points and 5.1 assists, adding 3.9 boards and 2.3 steals per night, and he has made the Big 12 All-Defensive Team three times.
According to Iowa State, no other Big 12 player has matched his career totals across points, assists, rebounds and steals.
Other names on the list include Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder, a first-team All-ACC pick last season who led the Cavaliers at 15.6 points and 6.2 rebounds a game, along with Alabama’s Amari Allen, Louisville’s Flory Bidunga and Duke’s John Blackwell.
The watch list is a starting point. The Atlanta Tipoff Club trims the field to midseason and semifinal groups before naming a winner in the spring.
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