The Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List, an honor given annually to the nation’s top point guard, was released on Tuesday afternoon. While this year’s award seems destined for Providence’s Kris Dunn, both Kansas’ Frank Mason and Iowa State’s Monte Morris received recognition in this first iteration of the Watch List.

Isaiah Taylor was left off the Cousy Award Preseason Watch List (Associated Press)

Mason turned heads in Lawrence last season, his first at the helm of Bill Self’s offense. The Jayhawks came into the year with serious questions about their point guard position, but the sophomore answered them by providing the most consistent point guard play Kansas has seen since Sherron Collins was still on campus. Mason’s game actually shares many similarities to Collins’, particularly when it comes to overall approach. Both players possess a bulldog mentality, neither having ever shied away from attacking much bigger players. Mason also improved his outside shooting in 2014-15, knocking down 43 percent of his three-point attempts on the season (up from 33 percent the year prior). What’s more is that his assist rate rose and turnover percentage correspondingly dropped last season, despite playing more than twice the minutes he did as a freshman.

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1. Seminoles.com: On Monday night, Florida State won its first exhibition game over Embry Riddle, 95-73. The Seminoles trailed by six with about seven minutes left in the first half before ending the period with a 22-7 run to take control. Even though it’s only an exhibition contest, perhaps this will be a better Florida State team on the offensive end than they have been recently. Not only did they tally 95 points but they did so while shooting 59 percent from the field. Of course the traditional problems with ball-handling may once again be a trait of Leonard Hamilton‘s squad this season, as the Seminoles gave it away 19 times in this one.
2. Sports Illustrated: Duke‘s Jahlil Okafor continues to get preseason love from the national media. This week, the big freshman is featured on one of SI’s College Basketball Preview regional covers. Last year the same magazine followed Jabari Parker around much of the year during his stellar one-and-done season for the Blue Devils. Like Parker, Okafor is a Chicago native that no one, including Mike Krzyzewski thinks will be around in college beyond this season.
3. NBC Sports: The preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Award came out on Tuesday. The ACC landed seven guards on the 36-man list, the most of any conference. Interestingly, only four of those have actually played in the league prior to this season: Duke’s Quinn Cook, Boston College’s Olivier Hanlan, North Carolina’s Marcus Paige, and London Perrantes of Virginia. League newcomers on the watch list include Terry Rozier of new ACC-member Louisville, Miami transfer Angel Rodriguez, and Duke freshman Tyus Jones. Cook and Jones are one of two teammate pairings to make the list, joining Kentucky’s Andrew Harrison and Tyler Ulis.
4. SCACCHoops: Each year it seems more and more coaches, including some in the ACC, are opting to play other comparable schools in a so-called “secret scrimmage” before real games begin. The NCAA allows each program to have two preseason meetings with other college teams. Those games can be traditional exhibitions, played in front of the public and under regular game conditions (against non Division I schools), or they can be scrimmages against Division I programs. Note that it’s no longer allowable for NCAA DI teams to play touring national teams or AAU squads. The scrimmages must be non-publicly attended and can be conducted in any format agreeable to both coaching staffs. Since practically every head coach will take advantage of the chance to use both available meetings with other opponents, if your team is only playing one exhibition game, they probably are having a scrimmage with some DI school somewhere. Virginia‘s Tony Bennett obviously likes the scrimmage format better for preparation, as his Cavaliers don’t play any exhibitions. Instead they will tangle with Marquette and Georgetown in closed scrimmages.
5. Yahoo Sports: In this era of college basketball, there’s no doubt that player transfers have become much more prevalent. Some schools, such as Iowa State have made a habit of bringing in significant transfers seemingly every year. In the ACC, N.C. State has become a popular landing place for perimeter players who leave other schools. Last year, former LSU Tiger Ralston Turner was a solid contributor for the Wolfpack and this year, Trevor Lacey is expected to have a huge impact. According to this list put together by Yahoo Sports last month, Lacey is the #1 rated eligible transfer in the country. Mark Gottfried already has another in the pipeline with Terry Henderson sitting out this season after leaving West Virginia. It’s worth noting that N.C. State has also been losing significant players via the transfer route, including a couple of 2012 McDonald’s High School All-Americans in Rodney Purvis  and Tyler Lewis.

1. According to yet another Yahoo! Sports report, Texas is going to appeal the NCAA’s season-long suspension leveled on sophomore guard Myck Kabongo. In an interesting turn of events, the NCAA can come back with a final verdict as soon as today. What you tend to see with players who have been caught taking impermissible benefits is that the NCAA will deem them ineligible from somewhere between three and 10 games. In Kabongo’s case, they waited until game #11 which might mean that they plan to stick with their harshest penalty: suspension for the entire season. One thing we will probably never understand is the timeline the NCAA has on declaring student-athlete’s eligibility.
2. The 2013 Bob Cousy Awards Watch List was announced yesterday with the Big 12 represented with players from five of the 10 conference members. The league’s nominees are Baylor’s Pierre Jackson, Iowa State’s Korie Lucious, Kansas’ Elijah Johnson, TCU’s Kyan Anderson and Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart. I don’t have a problem with any of the names listed but will quibble about one left off the list. I think K-State’s Angel Rodriguez should have been there. He’s showed nothing but improvement as an offensive option plus he’s cutting down on turnovers he used to make as a true freshman starting at point guard. Oh well.
3. Texas Tech found themselves down 20 early in the second half against Alabama, then they pulled off a comeback to cut the Crimson Tide lead to two with under 90 seconds in regulation. And then the Red Raiders never got any closer. Alabama improved to 7-3 while ending their three game losing streak. I’m curious to find out how Tech managed to get Alabama, Arizona and Arizona State (whom they will see on Saturday), plus every other non-conference game at home. Chris Walker may have attended the Jim Boeheim School of Scheduling.
4. While this may be the winter break for most guys, top college prospects aren’t taking the time off to decide where they’ll be taking their talents next year. The big story Thursday was Jabari Parker’s announcement for Duke, but on Tuesday night, Baylor’s 2013 recruiting class just got sweeter (as if it isn’t already). JuCo guard Kenny-Fred Chery has committed to the Bears. He is a 6’1″ point guard from Canada who currently plays for State Fair Community College in Missouri. So far this season, Chery is averaging 14.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting well from the field (44%) and behind the line (41%). Seems like an underrated get for Scott Drew.
5. Why do we have AP and Coaches’ polls in college basketball? Is it for Gary Parrish’s entertainment? RockChalkTalk explains why we don’t need them, and quite well I might add. For weeks Indiana was pegged as the number one team in the country while we witnessed Duke  beat a bunch of elite teams and yet barely make the top two in each poll because others had not yet lost. Though if the polls were in fact eliminated, I wouldn’t have my regular Poll Attacks!