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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – Trent Forrest, who was named to the 2019 NCAA Tournament All-West Regional Team in 2019, has been named to the 2020 Bob Cousy Award Watch List – an award which is presented annually by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to the nation’s top collegiate point guard. Forrest is one of four point guards from the Atlantic Coast Conference on the list of 20 which will be narrowed down to five finalists in March. The award will be presented to the top point guard on April 10, 2020 at the College Basketball Awards Show in Los Angeles.
Forrest, a preseason All-ACC Second-Team selection, enters his senior season tied for ninth in Florida State history with 165 career steals and 14th in school history with 331 career assists.
“Being named to the Cousy Award is exciting and humbling at the same time,” said Forrest. “It’s a tremendous honor for our team and illustrates what Coach Hamilton and his staff have done for this program. Our coaching staff sincerely sees our team and our program as national title contenders. That mindset and the players who have paved the way for our current team to be in position to be great is why we all came to Florida State. Any honors that any players on our team receive are made possible by Coach Ham, his staff and all of the players – past and present — who have worked so hard to get our program to where it is today.”
Forrest averaged a career-high 9.3 points (third on the team), 4.5 rebounds (fourth), 3.7 assists (first) and a career-high 1.9 steals (first) as Florida State’s starting point guard during the Seminoles’ record-setting season in 2019. He led the Seminoles to a 29-8 record, a 13-5 record in ACC play, a fourth place finish in the ACC standings, the Championship game of the ACC Tournament for the third time in school history, and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Forrest enters the 2019-20 season looking to become only the fourth player in school history to play in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments. With Forrest as their point guard, the Seminoles have advanced to the Elite Eight (2018), the Sweet 16 (2019) and the second round (2017) of the NCAA Tournament.
The Seminoles begin their ACC schedule at Pitt in their season opener on November 6 for the first time in school history and are scheduled to play 16 of their 20 games on the ESPN family of networks including five on the ACC Network.
The Seminoles are one of six teams in the nation (Florida State, Duke, Michigan, Kentucky, Purdue and Texas Tech) who have advanced at least as far as the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in both of the last two seasons. The Seminoles advanced to the Elite Eight in 2018 and to the Sweet 16 in 2019.
Florida State will play against its share of players on the Cousy Award Watch List during the upcoming season including Tre Jones of Duke (February 10, 2020), Andrew Nembhard of Florida (November 10, 2019), Cole Anthony of North Carolina (February 3, 2020), Lamonte’ Turner of Tennessee (November 29, 2019), Marcus Evans of VCU (Potential opponent on November 30, 2019) and Kihei Clark of Virginia (January 15 and January 28, 2020).
Cousy, the award’s namesake, played for Holy Cross from 1946-1950 and led the Crusaders to the 1947 NCAA Championship. He was a consensus First-Team All-American in 1950. Cousy’s success continued at the professional level as a six-time NBA Champion (1957, 1959-1963), NBA Most Valuable Player (1957) and 13-time NBA All-Star (1951-63). In 1996, he was named a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Previous winners of the Cousy Award include Ja Morant, Murray State (2019), Jalen Brunson, Villanova (2018), Frank Mason III, Kansas (2017), Tyler Ulis, Kentucky (2016), Delon Wright, Utah (2015), Shabazz Napier, Connecticut (2014), Trey Burke, Michigan (2013), Kendall Marshall, North Carolina (2012), Kemba Walker, Connecticut (2011), Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (2010), Ty Lawson, North Carolina (2009), DJ Augustin, Texas (2008), Acie Law, Texas A & M (2007), Dee Brown, Illinois (2006), Raymond Felton, North Carolina (2005) and Jameer Nelson, St. Joseph’s (2004).
“Since 2004, the Hall of Fame has had the honor of bestowing the Bob Cousy Award on the best point guards in the collegiate game, forming an amazing list of award winners who have gone on to have tremendous success at the professional level,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame. “This year, we are excited to announce Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies, which will allow fans to voice their opinions and support their favorite players in each of the three rounds. We greatly appreciate the support of Dell Technologies, the fans, our selection committee and the namesake of the award, Mr. Bob Cousy.”
Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, October 18.
2019 Bob Cousy Award Watch List
Trent Forrest, Florida State
Bryce Aiken, Harvard
Cole Anthony, North Carolina
Kihei Clark, Virginia
Anthony Cowan, Maryland
Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
Devon Dotson, Kansas
Marcus Evans, VCU
Jordan Ford, Saint Mary’s
Ashton Hagans, Kentucky
Markus Howard, Marquette
Tre Jones, Duke
Remy Martin, Jr., Arizona State
Davide Moretti, Texas Tech
Andrew Nembhard, Florida
Payton Pritchard, Oregon
Zavier Simpson, Michigan
Lamonte’ Turner, Tennessee
Cassius Winston, Michigan State
McKinley Wright, IV, Colorado
