The Big East will try to make it two years in a row that the Bob Cousy Award for the nation's top point guard stays in the conference. Former UConn point guard Kemba Walker won it last season.
This year the Big East has four of the 20 finalists for the Cousy Award: Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh Panthers), Scoop Jardine (Syracuse Orange), Shabazz Napier (Connecticut Huskies) and Peyton Siva (Louisville Cardinals).
Gibbs leads the four in scoring with 16.9 ppg (8th in the Big East). Napier leads the group in assists 6.4 apg (3rd in the Big East) and steals 2.0 (4th in the Big East). Siva is a close second to Napier in assists (6.0) and steals (1.9).
The list, which was originally 60 names long, will be narrowed down to ten in early February and five players by early March.
Here are the rest of the finalists:
Pierre Jackson Baylor
Ray McCallum Detroit
Seth Curry Duke
Erving Walker Florida
Scott Machado Iona
Casper Ware Long Beach State
Trey Burke Michigan
Dee Bost Mississippi State
Phil Pressey Missouri
Kendall Marshall North Carolina
Aaron Craft Ohio State
D.J. Cooper Ohio
Zach Rosen Pennsylvania
Damian Lillard Weber State
Jordan Taylor Wisconsin
Tu Holloway Xavier