Julian Strawther named a finalist for Julius Erving Award

Gonzaga Bulldogs junior forward Julian Strawther has been named as one of the five Julius Erving Award Finalists. The award goes out to the best small forward in college hoops each year.

Strawther earned the honors alongside Brandon Miller (Alabama), Jalen Wilson (Kansas), Keyontae Johnson (Kansas State) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (UCLA).

Strawther has taken a big step in his junior season. He is the second-leading scorer on Gonzaga’s top-ranked offense at 15.1 points per game. He has expanded his offensive arsenal, evolving from a point and shoot three-pointer to someone creating his own offense off the dribble.

That evolution has earned Strawther some NBA Draft chatter, in which he has begun to show up on draft boards, sometimes as a low first round pick.

It is stiff competition for Strawther, but if he takes home the award, he would be the third Zag to own the Julius Erving Award hardware. Corey Kispert won the award in 2021 and Rui Hachimura in 2019.