PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Basketball Hall of Fame announced the Top 10 candidates for the 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award on Friday given to the nation's best center.
Rutgers junior center Clifford Omoruyi was named to the list during a career season leading RU with 13.5 points-per-game. Omoruyi is leading RU with 9.8 rebounds per game, which is third in the Big Ten. His 47 blocks are third in the league. Omoruyi has a career-high nine double-doubles and is shooting 50.8 percent from the field. Omoruyi is on pace to be the first player at RU to lead the team in points, rebounds and blocks since 1991.
Omoruyi was named to Preseason All-Big Ten team by media, marking the third RU selection since joining the conference (Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr.). He was the first-ever Rutgers player to be named to the Preseason First-Team All-Big Ten.
Omoruyi has continued his success from last season being one of the nation's top dunkers. He led the country in dunks heading into the NCAA Tournament last season and is off to another hot start in 22-23. Omoruyi has 53 dunks thus far. That is good for fifth most in the country and the second most in the Big Ten.
Named after Class of 1995 Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its ninth year recognizes the top center in Division I men's college basketball.
Players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2022-2023 season. Fans can support their favorite players in the remaining rounds by participating in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, starting today on hoophallawards.com. The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process.
In March, five finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The Selection Committee for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award is composed of top men's college basketball personnel including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers.
The winner of the 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five.
Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Award (Point Guard), Jerry West Award (Shooting Guard), Julius Erving Award (Small Forward) and the Karl Malone Award (Power Forward), in addition to the Women's Starting Five. Previous winners of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award are Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky (2022), Luka Garza, Iowa (2020, '21), Ethan Happ, Wisconsin (2019), Angel Delgado, Seton Hall (2018), Przemek Karnowski, Gonzaga (2017), Jakob Poeltl, Utah (2016) and Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin (2015).
2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Candidates*
Oumar Ballo, Arizona
Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Adama Sanogo, Connecticut
Zach Edey, Purdue
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Cliff Omoruyi, Rutgers
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
Joel Soriano, St. John's
Hunter Dickinson, Michigan
Jack Nunge, Xavier *
