Alabama Freshman Named As Finalist For Julius Erving Award

Alabama freshman Brandon Miller has been named a Top-10 finalist for the Julius Erving Award. Since 2015, the Julius Erving Award has been awarded to the best small forward in college basketball.

Miller currently leads all freshmen in scoring, averaging 19 points per game to go along with 8.3 rebounds. He has been putting the country on notice this season with his nearly 45% shooting percentage from behind the arc. 

Miller joins Ohio State’s Brice Sensabaugh as the only freshmen named to the list of finalists. Other finalists include Baylor Scheierman (Creighton), Matthew Cleveland (Florida State), Julian Strawther (Gonzaga), Jalen Wilson (Kansas), Keyontae Johnson (Kansas State), Kevin Obanor (Texas Tech), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (UCLA), and Colby Jones (Xavier).

After being introduced in 2015, no SEC player has ever won the award and no freshman has won it since Arizona’s Stanley Johnson in 2015; Miller has a legitimate chance at breaking both trends.

Miller is currently projected as a top five pick in this year’s NBA draft which would make him the highest drafted player to come out of Alabama since 1995 when the Clippers selected Antonio McDyess with the No. 2 overall pick.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats has sent four players to the draft in the last three years, while hoping to add Miller, and fellow freshman standout Noah Clowney, to that list.

Miller and the Crimson Tide will travel to Auburn tomorrow to take on the Tigers in Neville Arena. Tip-off is slated for 1 P.M. CST and you can catch all the action right here on Tide 100.9.