SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – University of Dayton senior guard Jalen Crutcher has been named to the 2021 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Watch List.  Crutcher, the starting point for the Flyers since his freshman season, is one of 20 top men's college players named to the watch list.

A preseason All-American (Second Team according to Stadium), Crutcher quarterbacked Dayton to a 29-2 overall record, a No. 3 national ranking in the final poll and a perfect 18-0 mark in winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Regular Season Championship in 2019-20.  Last year, UD led Division I in field goal percentage (.525, 905-1725), was second in scoring margin (+15.5) and third in assists per game (17.6).

A three-year starter, Crutcher was First Team All-Atlantic 10 last year.  Sports Illustrated ranked him 34th in its listing of the Top 50 players of the 2019-20 college basketball season.  He was also First Team All-District 4 as voted on by the members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.  During the year, he became the first UD player to be named a back-to-back conference player of the week.

Crutcher led Dayton in minutes (33.7), assists (4.9) three-pointers (2.4 per game), 3-pt. FG% (.468, 147-314) and FT% (.869, 86-99), and was second in scoring (15.1).  In Atlantic 10 Conference games, he was the only player in the top seven of the guard-oriented stat categories -- scoring (7th), assists (7th), 3-pt. FG's (5th), 3-pt % (4th), FT% (3rd) and A/T ratio (1st).  

He is currently 36th in career scoring at UD with 1,170 points, and ninth with 470 career assists.  Crutcher is third at UD in career assists per game (5.0) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.18).

He is a two-time Flyer White Allen MVP, sharing the honor last season with eventual national player of the year Obi Toppin.

Several other point guards from Top Ten teams from last season are on the Cousy Watch List -- Scottie Barnes, (Florida State), Jared Butler (Baylor), Marcus Garrett (Kansas), Collin Gillespie (Villanova), Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga) and Marcus Zegarowski (Creighton).


The award is presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and named after 13-time NBA All-Star NBA Bob Cousy.  Mr. Cousy won an NCAA national championship with Holy Cross in 1947, and won six NBA titles with the Boston Celtics.  In 1996, he was named a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

The Bob Cousy Point Guard Award is part of the Hall of Fame's "Starting Five" awards program.  The other awards on the men's side are the, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award (which was won by UD's Obi Toppin last year) and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award.  All five greats are members of the Naismith Hall of Fame.

The last five winners of the Cousy Award are Payton Pritchard (Oregon, 2020), Ja Morant (Murray State, 2019), Jalen Brunson (Villanova, 2018), Frank Mason III (Kansas, 2017) and Tyler Ulis (Kentucky, 2016).

Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. ET.  Click here to vote:   http://www.hoophallawards.com/men/vote.php

By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2021 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award will be narrowed to just 10. In late February, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Cousy and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2021 Bob Cousy Award will be presented on April 9, 2021, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five.

Fans are encouraged to vote in all three rounds.

For more information, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall on Twitter and Instagram.