KJ Jones of Emmanuel, Spencer Levi of UNC Pembroke Represent Conference Carolinas on Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee announced the Top 100 watch list for the 2022 Bevo Francis Award and a pair of Conference Carolinas student-athletes made the list.
KJ Jones of Emmanuel and Spencer Levi of UNC Pembroke made the list from Conference Carolinas.
Jones currently leads the league in points (252) and points per game (21.0). He is shooting at a 48 percent (72-149) clip but leads the conference at the free-throw line with an 86.6 percent (103-119) mark. He is also tops in the league with 28 steals (2.3/game) and third in assists with 51 (4.3 per contest).
Levi is 10th in the league in scoring at 15.5 points per game and leads the league in rebounds with 136 and 9.1 per contest. He is also second in field goal percentage at 70.2 percent (99-141) and tied for the league lead with 30 blocked shots.
The 2022 Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List consists of some of the top players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division II, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA.
The Clarence “Bevo” Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
2022 marks the sixth year of the Bevo Francis Award, after the award was not presented in 2021. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019 and Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020.
On February 15th, the list will be reduced to the Top 50 players. One month later on March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 2nd, the finalists of this year’s award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 4th.
The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Tobin Anderson - St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.), Gary Stewart - Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Bill Dreikosen - Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Ryan Kane - Ripon (Wisc.), Mark Berokoff – Oklahoma City, Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Rhett Soliday – Vanguard (Calif.), Sam Hargraves – Olivet (Mich.), Stacy Hollowell – Loyola (La.), Stephen Brennan – Babson, Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Chase Tiechmann – Florida College, Bart Lundy – Queens (N.C.), Aaron Siebenthall – Ottawa (Kan.), Tae Norwood – Humboldt State, Justin Parnell – Oregon Tech, Mark Vanderslice – USC - Aiken and Grant Leep – Seattle Pacific.
Read the full release and see the full 100 here.