UAFS senior guard
Darrion Strong-Moore is among 100 players from NCAA Division II and III, NAIA Division I and II, USCAA and NCCAA to be named to
Small College Basketball's Bevo Francis Award watch list.
Strong-Moore leads the Lions in scoring with 15.5 points per game and averages 2.6 assists per game. He's shooting 48 percent from the field – 43 percent from 3-point range – and 81 percent at the free-throw line.
It is the third season of the Bevo Francis Award. Previous award winners were Dominez Burnett of Davenport (Mich.) in 2016 and Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State in 2017.
"The Bevo Francis Award has quickly become the most prestigious award for collegiate players at the small college levels, and this watch list and award has now drawn a great deal of attention," Small College Basketball founder John McCarthy said.
"We've received a tremendous amount of information, and we've done a great deal of research. Ultimately, selecting 100 players from 1,100-1,200 schools is extremely challenging. Our committee did a tremendous amount of research, and we tried to focus on the criteria for the Bevo Francis Award."
Members of the Bevo Francis Award committee include the following university presidents and coaches: Dr. Michelle Johnston (Rio Grande), Tobin Anderson (St. Thomas Aquinas), Drew Diener (Rockhurst), Gerald Holmes (Bloomfield), Gary Stewart (Stevenson), Arlen Galloway (Wentworth), Tony Dominguez (Western Washington), Chris Briggs (Georgetown), Bill Dreikosen (Rocky Mountain), Klint Pleasant (Rochester), Ryan Kane (Ripon), Mike McGrath (University of Chicago), Mark Berokoff (Randall), Mike Donnelly (Florida Southern).
The committee chose this elite group from over 1,100 colleges and universities and took into consideration individual statistics, previous awards, milestones and team success.
On February 15, SCB will publish the next watch list with 50 players. The list will be narrowed down to 25 players in a watch list published on March 15. The finalists will be announced in a highlight video that will be released on March 31.
The 2018 Bevo Francis Award winner will be announced on April 2, but, for the first time, the award will be presented to the award winner on May 19 at the newly created National Awards Show in conjunction with the SCB Alumni Association's Celebration of the Game event at the Crowne Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.
