Ft. Myers, FL – Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee are proud to unveil the Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List for the 2025–26 season. The list features 50 of the nation's premier
student-athletes representing NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA, and NCCAA programs. Although the season is just three months underway, these players have already separated themselves as elite performers on the small college basketball stage nationwide.
John McCarthy shared the following remarks regarding this year's Top 50 Watch List: "Congratulations to all 50 players on the Bevo Francis Award Watch List," stated McCarthy. "This is a very elite group of players that have helped to lead their respective teams to tremendous success thus far this season. They have been chosen from approximately 13,000-16,000 players that are playing at the small college levels, and it is a tremendous honor for each of them to be included on this Watch List. Thank you to our Small College Basketball National Awards Committee for their time and insight in creating this list of players. We are grateful."
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
2026 marks the 10th year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022. In 2023, RJ Sunahara of Nova Southeastern was named the winner, while in 2024 Elijah Malone of Grace College received the honor. Last year MJ Iraldi was named the 2025 winner. The award was not presented during the 2021 season. (Covid)
A month from today on March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 4th, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 6th.
The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart - Cal State Merced, Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Richard Westerlund – Northwestern (OH), Mark Vanderslice – USC – Aiken, Matt O'Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Justin Leslie – Westmont, Raul Placeres – Maryville College (TN), Chris Martin – Loras (IA), John Lamanna – Whitman (WA), Brian Miller – MSOE, Justin Downer – Point Loma
Nazarene, Matt Capell – STAC, Scott Moore – Grace, Keven Bradley – Hillsdale, Mark Rutledge – Southern Arkansas, Chase Tiechmann – Georgia Gwinnett, Mick Hedgepeth – Alabama Huntsville.
To stay up to date on all things Small College Basketball or to learn more about the Bevo Francis Award, please head to http://www.smallcollegebasketball.com.
2025-26 Bevo Francis Award Watch List - 50 Players
Ty Allred 6'9" Sr. Colorado Mesa
Jeremiah Anderson 6'1" Jr. Felician
Jack Bachelor 6'2" Jr. Washburn
Benjamin Bill 6'8" Jr. Daemen
Caedmon Bontrager 6'7" Jr. Indiana Wesleyan
Jack Browder 6'4" Sr. Carson-Newman
Jalen Brown 6'2" So. Cal State Dominquez Hills
Bradley Bunch 6'6" Sr. Pikeville
Tyree Campbell 6'5" Sr. Cal State East Bay
Drey Carter 6'8" Jr. Fairmont State
Luke Chicone 5'11" Sr. John Carroll
Micah Clark 6'7" Sr. Nelson
Dillon Claussen 6'8" So. Washburn
Carl Cleveland 6'6" Sr. Young Harris
Terry Coner Jr. 6'0" Jr. OK Baptist
Jackson Cooper 6'7" Jr. Oregon Tech
Hayden Diekhans 6'6" Sr. Montana Tech
Dallas Dillard 6'3" Sr. IUP
Mason Dopirak 6'2" Sr. MSOE
Kyle Duke 6'2" Sr. Cumberlands
Derek Fairley 6'1" So. Lourdes
Osmar Garcia-Araujo 6'7" Jr. Anderson
Dallas Graziani 5'8" Sr. Nova Southeastern
Sam Grieger 6'4" Jr. UW-Lacrosse
Jair Knight 6'2" Sr. Emory
Lazerek Houston 6'0" Fr. Central Missouri
Camerin James 6'5" Jr. Keiser
Dylan Kuehl 6'6" Sr. Northern Michigan
Jalen Langsy 6'1" So. Northwestern (IA)
Preston LeGassick 6'1" Sr. Palm Beach Atlantic
Cam Lowe 6'6" So. Black Hills State
Amondo Miller 6'7" Sr. Lubbock Christian
Jacob Morales 6'4" Sr. Montclair State
Chase Morgan 6'6" Sr. Maryville (TN)
Jalen Overway 6'10" Jr. Calvin
Ben Pearce 6'1" Sr. Emory
Zach Philipkoski 6'4" Jr. Daemen
Pace Prosser 6'2" So. Gannon
Joey Ramirez 6'2" Sr. Concordia (TX)
Ross Reeves 6'4" Sr. Nova Southeastern
Shane Regan 6'4" Sr. Chicago
Kye Robinson 6'2" So. Mary Washington
Zevi Samet 6'2" Sr. Yeshiva
Marcus Tomashek 6'6" Sr. Michigan Tech
Jesse Van Kalsbeek 6'6" So. Northwestern (IA)
Henry Vetter 6'5" Sr. Trinity (CT)
A.J. White 5'10" Sr. North Georgia
Matthew Willenborg 6'7" Jr. Central Oklahoma
Maceo Williams 6'7" Sr. Ashland
Andrew Young 6'9" Sr. Missouri S&T
