Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Candidates Announced for 2015

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has announced 15 finalists for college basketball's newest award.      

Named after one of the sport's most dominant big men ever, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award will be handed out on April 10, 2015, per the official release. 

Hall of Fame president and CEO John L. Doleva talked about college basketball's newest honor: 

"

For many years the Basketball Hall of Fame has recognized the top collegiate point guards in the nation with the Bob Cousy Award. We are excited to expand upon these awards by now recognizing the top players at each position. When it comes to collegiate centers, none have accomplished more than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and we are pleased to include him in this celebration of the best in the game today.

"

Here's a look at the list of the inaugural finalists, which will be narrowed down to five in early March before the winner is chosen at ESPN's new College Basketball Awards show: 

Player	School
Bobby Portis	Arkansas
Alan Williams	UC Santa Barbara
Josh Scott	Colorado
Jahlil Okafor	Duke
Joshua Smith	Georgetown
Willie Cauley-Stein	Kentucky
Jarell Martin	LSU
Kennedy Meeks	North Carolina
Brad Waldow	Saint Mary's
Stefan Nastic	Stanford
Rakeem Christmas	Syracuse
Jakob Poeltl	Utah
Damian Jones	Vanderbilt
Daniel Ochefu	Villanova
Frank Kaminsky	Wisconsin

There may not be a more appropriate season to introduce a Center of the Year Award, as this year's Player of the Year race—which is one of the most intriguing in several years—features a pair of big men. 

Frank Kaminsky and Jahlil Okafor couldn't be much more different. One is a senior whose agile offensive skill set allows him to make plays from anywhere in the half court. The other is a highly touted freshman who gets it done with power, footwork and polish in the post. 

Despite those differences, their resumes are quite similar. Kaminsky is averaging 17.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks with a true-shooting percentage of 62.6. Okafor is at 18.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks with a 65.3 true-shooting percentage. Wisconsin, 23-2, has Ken Pomeroy's most efficient offense. Duke, 22-3, is No. 2. 

It's a matter of opinion at this point, but Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn recently gave the nod to Kaminsky, who has been better on the defensive end: 

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Not only is Kaminsky the No. 1 scoring option for the nation's most efficient offense, he also has the the best defensive rebounding percentage in Big Ten play and serves as an adequate (read: better than Okafor) rim-protector. Frank The Tank is the clear frontrunner for the Wooden and Naismith Awards, and he'd have to go into a profound slump to lose them.

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Willie Cauley-Stein should get mention here for what he has done for undefeated Kentucky's No. 1 defense, but ultimately, college basketball's newest award will come down to Kaminsky and Okafor. 

Outside of the Wildcats' run at perfection, the battle between those two only continues to grow as one of the major themes of the season.    

All stats courtesy of sports-reference.com unless noted otherwise.