WVU big man Jesse Edwards was named to the 2024 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list on Friday afternoon, per release. Edwards is preparing for his first season with the Mountaineers and his final year of college basketball.
Here’s the full preseason watch list:
| Oumar Ballo | Arizona | N’Faly Dante | Oregon |
| Johni Broome | Auburn | Zach Edey | Purdue |
| Ryan Kalkbrenner | Creighton | Clifford Omoruyi | Rutgers |
| Kel’el Ware | Indiana | Joel Soriano | St. John’s |
| Hunter Dickinson | Kansas | Aday Mara | UCLA |
| Aaron Bradshaw | Kentucky | Donovan Clingan | UConn |
| Jordan Brown | Memphis | Josh Cohen | UMass |
| Dawson Garcia | Minnesota | Branden Carlson | Utah |
| Armando Bacot | North Carolina | Eric Dixon | Villanova |
| Jamarion Sharp | Ole Miss | Jesse Edwards | West Virginia |
Edwards was also recently named to the Preseason Big 12 Honorable Mention list. Edwards was the only Mountaineer to receive such honors.
Edwards (6-foot-11) is the centerpiece of West Virginia’s transfer portal haul this offseason, coming in as a top-five transfer recruit. Edwards averaged 14.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks on 59 percent shooting from the field during his senior year at Syracuse. Edwards was named to the All-ACC Third Team this past season. Edwards has started for the Orange in the past two years. Edwards played seven minutes against West Virginia in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Edwards has one year of eligibility remaining.
Edwards averaged 18 points and eight rebounds throughout a three-game FIBA Pre-Qualifying group stage for The Netherlands.
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