One month after being named to the Wooden Award Top 25 watch list, Maryland men’s basketball freshman Derik Queen was named to the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Center of the Year Midseason Top Ten, an award given annually to the best center in college basketball. Queen becomes the first Terp nominated to the midseason list since Bruno Fernando did back in 2019.
A potential first-round pick in April’s NBA Draft, Queen proved himself as an early season spark as he joins the rest of the starters averaging double figures scoring this season. Queen is leading Maryland in scoring with 15 points per game, while he sits second to Julian Reese with 8.3 points per game. Queen also joins Reese as one of two starters shooting over 50% from the field as the Baltimore duo are shooting 53.1% and 58.3%, respectively, from the floor this season.
Queen has posted seven 20-point games this season, three away from tying Melo Trimble for the program record, while his team-high 15 points per game rank fourth-most by a freshman in program history.
Queen also posted six double-doubles this season, two away from tying Jordan Williams for second-most by a freshman, while he’s one of nine freshmen to score 20 or more points in seven or more games this season.
After posting 26 points at Purdue and 25 points at Illinois, Queen also holds two of the highest-scoring games by a Maryland freshman in program history.
Queen is also a three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week selection, becoming the first to do so since Jalen Smith back in 2018-19.
More info on the award: 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, the Top 10 list will be narrowed to just five, and in late March, the five finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame's selection committees, where the winner will be selected. The Selection Committees for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award are composed of top men's college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers.
Previous winners of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award are Zach Edey, Purdue (2023-24), 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).
Full List:
Ryan Kalkbreener (Creighton)
Asa Newell (Georgia)
Hunter Dickinson (Kansas)
Derik Queen (Maryland)
Vladislav Goldin (Michigan)
Dawson Garcia (Minnesota)
Nate Bittle (Oregon)
Robbie Avila (St. Louis)
Maxime Raynaud (Stanford)
Oscar Cluff (South Dakota State)
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