Nigel James Named To Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List

We're just one season into Nigel James' career at Marquette, and already he's established himself as one of the best point guards in the country. On Monday, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 20 preseason watch list candidates for the Bob Cousy Award , which is awarded at the end of every basketball season to the player determined to be the best point guard in the country.

Obviously we're talking about this because Nigel James is one of the 20.

James averaged 16.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.9 steals per game for Marquette last season, earning Big East Freshman of the Year honors along the way. He put up 17/4/5/2 as a starter and 19/4/6/2 in Big East regular season games. While 2025-26 was the worst Marquette season in a looooong time, you can not say anything but good things regarding not just how James played but how he handled his business as well.

I'm actually not writing this blog to tell you about how great Nigel James is. I'm writing it to tell you that, to a certain extent, the 2026-27 season will be Nigel James getting to duel with a lot of dudes on this preseason watch list. Going in chronological order in the schedule, including this past Sunday's exhibition game:

Counting James, eight of the 20 guys on this watch list are on Marquette's schedule this season! That's wild! Five of the seven that Marquette will face are all on the schedule before Christmas!

Marquette gets things started for realsies on Monday, November 2, with a home game against Mercyhurst. Tipoff on ESPN+ is set for 6:30pm Central time.

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