Michigan Basketball: Center Vlad Goldin up for major award after stellar start with Wolverines

You can read the whole press release below:

University of Michigan men's basketball fifth-year center Vladislav Goldin was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Top 10 list on Friday (Feb. 7), presented annually to the nation's top center.

Goldin is one of four Big Ten representatives -- the others being Derrick Queen (Maryland), Nate Bittle (Oregon) and Dawson Garcia (Minnesota). Six of the award's 10 winners have come from the Big Ten. Other finalists include former Wolverine Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Asa Newell (Georgia), Oscar Cluff (South Dakota State), Robbie Avila (St. Louis) and Maxime Raynaud (Stanford).

In his first year with the program, Goldin leads U-M in scoring with 15.6 points per game. He has two 30-plus point games this season, including a career-high 36 points in Michigan's win over UCLA (Jan. 7). With 14 points in U-M's win at Rutgers (Feb. 1), Goldin surpassed 1,500 career points (1,509) in his five-year career.

Goldin has been efficient around the rim all season. He is shooting 64.8 percent from the field, which is good for second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation. Goldin has dunked the ball 40 times -- a third of his total field goals.

After not even attempting a three-pointer in the first four seasons of his career, Goldin has developed a consistent shot from behind the arc. He is 9-for-18 from that range on the season, making a career-high three triples against Northwestern (Jan. 19). Goldin has also been an effective shooter from the line; he is on pace to set a career-best 73.0 percent on free throws.

Goldin is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game and has two double-digit rebounding games this season—grabbing 11 boards against both Iowa (Dec. 7) and Oklahoma (Dec. 18). He is just four rebounds away from 800 in his career.

Goldin has already set a single-season career best with 29 assists, averaging 1.3 assists per game. Defensively, he has at least one block in 18 games and three blocks in six games.

The winner will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the award's selection committee. At hoophallawards.com, fans will have the ability to vote among the ten players on the watch list to help determine the five finalists.

The finalists will then be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the selection committee, who will announce the winner during the Final Four weekend. The voting opens on Friday (Feb. 7).

The award is named in honor of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who led UCLA to three national championships from 1967-1969. While with the Bruins, Abdul-Jabbar was named a first-team All-American three times, the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player three times and National College Player of the Year twice.

In the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time NBA champion, six-time MVP and 19-time All-Star. When he retired, he was the league's all-time leader in nine statistical categories, including the most points in NBA history until LeBron James surpassed him in 2023.

Previous winners of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year include the Big Ten's Zach Edey, Purdue (2023, 2024), Luka Garza, Iowa (2020, 2021), Ethan Happ, Wisconsin (2019) and Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin (2015).