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LSU Tigers Star Donovan Dent Listed On Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watchlist
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- LSU Tigers Star Donovan Dent Listed On Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watchlist
(Kyle Ross-Imagn Images)
The LSU Tigers missing out on RJ Luis for their basketball team was unfortunate, but they were still able to land someone who is expected to be one of the best players in the country: Donovan Dent.
Dent was announced as a member of the preseason watchlist for the Bob Cousy Award on Monday, which is a great honor for him to receive ahead of the season beginning in a couple of weeks.
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The Bob Cousy Award is named after the Hall of Famer for the Boston Celtics (played college ball at Holy Cross) and is handed out to the top point guard in college basketball each year. Previous winners include Darius Acuff Jr., Ja Morant, Jalen Brunson and Kemba Walker. It's not a guarantee for NBA success, but it does have a good rate of players at least getting to the league.
Dent had actually already retired from basketball rather than going for a professional career before receiving another year of eligibility for the Tigers. A strong season this year and a push for the Cousy Award could change things for him, though. He'll be 23 in December, but older rookies are going to become more commonplace, with players staying in college longer with NIL rules.
The competition for the Cousy Award is going to be steep, though, as there are a number of very talented point guards around the country. Michigan State Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr., Arkansas Razorbacks guard Jordan Smith Jr., and former LSU guard DJ Thomas (now with the Houston Cougars) are all finalists and are expected to have big years.
Back in the 2024/2025 season, Dent put up 20.4 points and 6.5 assists per night on 49.0/40.9/78.4 shooting splits for the New Mexico Lobos. The scoring production went down a little bit the year after for the UCLA Bruins, but he still added 7.6 assists per night.
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There has only been one chance to see Dent working the point with the full roster after three exhibition games, but he has been able to suit up in all three, and he has looked great. He had a near triple-double in the second game. In the most recent game , he had 24 points and nine assists while shooting 3-of-6 from three.
If the Tigers can put together a competitive season, Dent should have the output needed to at least be in the conversation. That is the main question about his legitimacy as a candidate.
