Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee released the first Bevo Francis Watch List for the 2025–26 season. The top 100 watch list highlights many of the nation’s top student-athletes competing across DII, DIII, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA programs. The award is named after Rio Grande legend Bevo Francis, who still holds the DII single-game scoring record (113) and season average record (46.5 points per game). Nominees are based on season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements.
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Earlier this year, we took a look at 15 potential Bevo Francis Award hopefuls. Twelve of those players — Benjamin Bill, Jack Browder, Dillon Claussen, Carl Cleveland, Dallas Graziani, Cam Lowe, Amondo Miller Jr., Pace Prosser, Antonio Pusateri, Marcus Tomahsek, Ross Reeves and A.J. White — made the list. Jaquay Randolph of Southern Wesleyan, who averages nearly 18 points per game with a DII-best 16.0 rebounds per game; Felician's Tristan Harcourt; and Boubacar Djigo from Concord (WV), who averages 15.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game while shooting 60.3 percent from the floor, were surprisingly omitted.
The list will continue to be whittled down, with it being cut in half to 50 on Feb. 15. One month later, on March 15, the top 25 will be released, and on April 4, Small College Basketball will announce the finalists, with the winner to be announced on April 6, the day after the 2026 DII men's basketball champion is crowned.
The Bevo Francis Top 100: DII by the numbers
- Forty-four of the top 100 hail from DII men's basketball programs, more than 2025 (38) and 2024 (42).
- Of those 44, 15, or a whopping 34 percent, come from just six of the 298 DII men's basketball programs.
- Three DII schools have three representatives. Daemen has Benjamin Bill, Justin Hemphill and Zach Philipkoski. Washburn has Jack Bachelor, Dillon Claussen and Jeremiah Jones. Lastly, defending champion Nova Southeastern has Dallas Graziani, Jaxon Nap and Ross Reeves.
- Anderson (SC) is one of three schools that is represented by two players. The Trojans see Osmar Garcia-Araujo and A.J. Wright make the top 100. Last year's national runner-up, Cal State Dominguez Hills, has both Jalen Brown and Josiah Sanders represented. Lubbock Christian sends both Amondo Miller Jr. and Antonio Pusateri.
- One of those 44 is hopeful of becoming the seventh DII player to win the award. Previous DII men's basketball players to win include Dominez Burnett of Davenport in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial in 2018, Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State in 2022, RJ Sunahara of Nova Southeastern in 2023 and MJ Iraldi of Nova Southeastern was named the 2025 winner.
- There is only one freshman among the top 100, and he hails from DII. Lazerek Houston from Central Missouri, who is averaging 19.7 points per game with a team-high 99 assists, is the lone rookie in the conversation.
The Bevo Francis Top 100: The list
| Player | School |
|---|---|
| Ty Allred | Colorado Mesa* |
| Jack Bachelor | Washburn* |
| Wyatt Bell | Southwestern (KS) |
| Jared Berry | Embry-Riddle* |
| Benjamin Bill | Daemen* |
| Ryan Blount | Tampa* |
| Caedmon Bontrager | Indiana Wesleyan |
| Cole Bowen | Graceland |
| Jakob Braaten | Southwest Minnesota State* |
| Daniel Brocaille | Morningside |
| Jack Browder | Carson-Newman* |
| Jalen Brown | Cal State Dominguez Hills* |
| Bradley Bunch | Pikeville |
| Drey Carter | Fairmont State* |
| Chance Casenhiser | Mount Union |
| Devontre Chaney | Georgia Gwinnett |
| Luke Chicone | John Carroll |
| Micah Clark | Nelson |
| Dillon Claussen | Washburn* |
| Damani Claxton | St. Mary’s (TX)* |
| Carl Cleveland | Young Harris* |
| Noah Cleveland | Illinois Wesleyan |
| Terry Coner Jr. | Oklahoma Baptist* |
| Jackson Cooper | Oregon Tech |
| Yoro Diallo | UVA Wise* |
| Hayden Diekhans | Montana Tech |
| Dallas Dillard | Indiana (PA)* |
| Mason Dopirak | MSOE |
| Kyle Duke | Cumberlands |
| Derek Fairley | Lourdes |
| Cooper Farrall | Bentley* |
| Osmar Garcia-Araujo | Anderson (SC)* |
| Aaron Goldstein | Staten Island* |
| Dallas Graziani | Nova Southeastern* |
| Sam Grieger | UW-Lacrosse |
| Kyle Gruhler | Montana Western |
| Isaiah Howard | Benedictine-Mesa |
| Tamaje Izuagbe | Oklahoma Wesleyan |
| Jair Knight | Emory |
| Justin Hemphill | Daemen* |
| Lazerek Houston | Central Missouri* |
| Elijah Jackson | Southern Oregon |
| Camerin James | Keiser |
| Jeremiah Jones | Washburn* |
| Ryan Johnson | Carthage |
| Dylan Kuehl | Northern Michigan* |
| Mason Landdeck | MSU Billings* |
| Jalen Langsy | Northwestern (IA) |
| Jaylon Lee | Arizona Christian |
| Preston Le Gassick | Palm Beach Atlantic* |
| Cam Lowe | Black Hills State* |
| E.J. McQuillan | LSU-Alexandria |
| Amondo Miller Jr. | Lubbock Christian* |
| Chase Morgan | Maryville (TN) |
| Dan Mukuna | Fort Hays State* |
| Jaxon Nap | Nova Southeastern* |
| Omari Nesbit | Rocky Mountain |
| Nathan Ojukwu | Dakota State |
| Jarrel Okorougo | Trinity (CT) |
| Ese Onakpoma | Arizona Christian |
| Jalen Overway | Calvin |
| Ben Pearce | Emory |
| Zach Philipkoski | Daemen* |
| Pace Prosser | Gannon* |
| Antonio Pusateri | Lubbock Christian* |
| Ian Raasch | Grace |
| Armonie Ramey | Howard Payne |
| Joey Ramirez | Concordia (TX) |
| Marquis Ratcliff | Moravian |
| Isaiah Reams | Central Methodist |
| Raymond Reece | Philander Smith |
| Ross Reeves | Nova Southeastern* |
| Shane Regan | Chicago |
| Jabril Robinson | Randolph Macon |
| Connor Rogers | Pittsburg State* |
| Nick Roper | Chicago |
| Anthony Rose | SUNY Poly |
| Zevi Samet | Yeshiva |
| Josiah Sanders | Cal State Dominguez Hills* |
| Shane Stevensen | Life |
| Jaden Taylor | Missouri Southern* |
| Orlando Thomas | Langston |
| Grady Thompson | Dubuque |
| Quentin Toles | Alabama Huntsville* |
| Marcus Tomashek | Michigan Tech* |
| Jesse Van Kalsbeek | Northwestern (IA) |
| Kolden Vanlandingham | North Park |
| Henry Vetter | Trinity (CT) |
| Casey Verhagen | Concordia (WI) |
| Mike Vuckovic | North Park |
| Khi Wallace | LSU-Shreveport |
| Jesse Washington | Williams Baptist |
| Deion Wesson | Williams Baptist |
| A.J. White | North Georgia* |
| A.J. Wright | Anderson (SC)* |
| Matthew Willenborg | Central Oklahoma* |
| Maceo Williams | Ashland* |
| Fontaine Williams | West Texas A&M* |
| Carmelo Yakubu | Bethel (KS) |
| Andrew Young | Missouri S&T* |
(* = DII player)
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