Desmond Bane named to All Big 12 Preseason Team, Jerry West Watch List

One of the most dynamic players in college basketball is finally getting his due ahead of his senior season, as TCU Basketball shooting guard Desmond Bane has been named to the All Big 12 Preseason Team as well as the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Watch List.

Bane, a 6’6” senior out of Richmond, Indiana, explored his NBA options before electing to return for one final run with the Frogs. Lightly recruited out of a small private high school, the electric athlete spent his first three seasons in Fort Worth making a name for himself as an exceptional shooter and powerful dunker in transition. He has worked to improve his ball-handling and defense, and will be tasked with taking on more a scoring role for a TCU team that replaces all but three of its pieces from a season ago.

Bane is the conference’s top returning scorer after averaging 15.2 points per game last season. He averaged 5.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists, as well, on his way to being named to the All Big 12 Second Team by both the conference and the Associated Press. He scored 10 or more points in 26 out of 37 games and scored 20 or more eight times. His career-high of 34 points came in a 69-56 win at Texas on March 9, 2019, which was the most by a TCU player since 2012.

Along with Bane, others selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team were Preseason Player of the Year Udoka Azubuike (Kansas), Tristan Clark (Baylor), Devon Dotson (Kansas) and Tyrese Haliburton (Iowa State). Chris Clarke (Texas Tech) was selected as the Preseason Newcomer of the Year and Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia) was named Preseason Freshman of the Year. The honors were voted on by head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes.

Prior to receiving the Big 12 honor, Bane was also named to the Jerry West watch list. The list Is comprised of the top 20 shooting guards in the country; Bane is the Big 12’s only representative to make the cut to this point.

Bane was one of 20 on the initial watch list, which is given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The award is named after Class of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West. The annual honor is in its sixth year of recognizing the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

New to the award this season is Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds. By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award will be narrowed to just 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2020 Jerry West Award will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April, 10, 2020.

Players can play their way on to, or off of, the list throughout the season.

TCU Basketball opens their 2019-2020 campaign on Thursday, November 7th, when they play Southwestern at Schollmaier Arena.