Providence Lands Two Players on NBCSports.com’s Midseason Awards List

It may be difficult for Friar fans to get over last night’s home loss against Marquette. This may help and it may also help them to recall how special this season has been to date. NBCSports.com has released their midseason awards and All-American teams. While these awards mean little in that they aren’t official, they do give a good snapshot of Providence’s first half of the season. Kris Dunn was named Player of the Year and Ben Bentil was named Most Improved Player. Dunn was also named a First Team All-American.

Dunn has been special, despite a 7 turnover performance last night. He has garnered a ton of attention for his play on the court, as well as for sharing his painful story off the court about his difficult upbringing. Dunn seems to be a lock for be a top 10 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and Friar fans should enjoy the second half of the season with Dunn in a Providence uniform. Dunn leads the Big East in assists (7.3 assists/game), steals (3.21 steals/game) and is second in the league in scoring (17.7 points/game).

The player ahead of Dunn in scoring in the Big East is Ben Bentil at 19.4 points/game. Bentil has had an unreal start to his sophomore campaign and is without question the most improved player in the Big East. If he keeps playing like he has through 16 games — scoring 20 or more points in 8 of them — he will keep his name in the race for the nation’s most improved player and might even garner some attention on some of the postseason All-American teams. Bentil is also fifth in the Big East in rebounding (7.9 rebounds/game), fifth in free throw percentage (81.4%) and eleventh in blocks (1.25 blocks/game).

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Mike Hopkins

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