KJ Jones II of Emmanuel Named to Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee announced the Top 50 watch list for the 2022 Bevo Francis Award and KJ Jones II of Emmanuel represented Conference Carolinas on the list.
Jones currently leads the league in points (458) and points per game (20.8). He is shooting at a 49 percent (127-258) clip but leads the conference at the free-throw line with an 87.3 percent (185-212) mark. He is also tops in the league with 45 steals (2.0/game) and third in assists with 99 (4.5 per contest).
The 2022 Bevo Francis Top 50 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 March 15th, the list will be reduced to the Top 25 players. 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.
Learn more about the award and see the full Top 50 here.