2021-22 Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List
Halfway through the best season to date of an already storied career, Hillsdale College junior men's basketball player Patrick Cartier continues to receive nationwide recognition.
On Saturday, Small College Basketball and the NCAA National Awards Committee named Cartier as one of 100 players to watch for consideration for the 2021-22 Bevo Francis Award, handed out on April 4.
The award, created in 2015, honors the best non-NCAA Division I men's basketball player at the college level, and is open to players at the NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA levels. It's named for Clarence "Bevo" Francis, a legend at the University of Rio Grande in Ohio who set multiple NCAA scoring records in the 50's, including averaging 50.1 points per game in the 1953-54 campaign. Hillsdale has a connection with Francis, as it was against the Chargers in 1954 that he set the single game NCAA scoring record of 113 points that still stands to this day.
The G-MAC Player of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, and an All-American to both the NABC and D2CCA following the 2020-21 season, Cartier has been even better in 2021-22, scoring a G-MAC leading 22.5 points per game that ranks 14th among all players at the NCAA Division II level.
The junior is not only one of the most prolific scorers in the country, but also one of the most efficient, with his 62.7 shooting percentage from the floor also ranking in the top 20 nationally at the NCAA Division II level, and with most players ahead of him taking only a fraction of the shot attempts per game that Cartier does on a nightly basis.
Cartier has scored in double figures in every contest this season and has three of his five career games of 30 or more points during the 2021-22 campaign to date. He's carried a heavy load to help keep Hillsdale in striking distance of a third-straight G-MAC title despite increasingly challenging competition in the conference race.
The junior is the only G-MAC player to make the first list, which includes players from all five classifications eligible for the award. The watchlist will be winnowed down from 100 to 50 players on Feb. 15, from 50 to 25 on March 15, and the finalists for the award will be announced on April 2, with the winner receiving the award on April 4.
Hillsdale (11-4) plays at home next on Thursday, Jan. 20 against Trevecca Nazarene at 7:30 p.m.
Photo by Anthony Lupi