Redshirt senior power forward Braden Huff of the Gonzaga Bulldogs was named one of 50 players across the country to the Naismith Trophy Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year preseason watchlist, as was redshirt sophomore forward Lauren Whittaker on the women’s side, for that matter.
The midseason team on the women’s side will be announced on Feb. 9, 2027, and Feb. 11, 2027 on the men’s side. Each watchlist will be cut to 30 players.
Huff, who competed in his first regular-season contest since Jan. 8, 2026, was as consistent a post player as could come last season before his left knee injury. The Glen Ellyn, Illinois native was averaging a team-leading 17.8 points per game on an unbelievable 66.2 percent from the field, which ranked as the sixth-highest in the NCAA through his 18 starts back in 2025-26. He also grabbed 5.6 rebounds per game for the Zags, while continuously showing off his passing pedigree in those high-low actions.
In the season opener against the Purdue Boilermakers in Las Vegas, Nevada, Huff finished with 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting and seven rebounds. The 6-10 leftie struggled to find buckets near the rim when 7-4 junior center Daniel Jacobsen was on the floor. Quite a few missed bunnies under the basket against his former
Glenbard West High School teammate, senior wing Caden Pierce, as well.
Despite all the great alums to come through the Inland Northwest program, Gonzaga, men’s or women’s, has never had a Naismith Trophy winner before.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho