Pace Academy power forward and Georgia Tech basketball target Wendell Carter was named one of 50 players to the Naismith Trophy High School Boy’s Preseason Watch List on Tuesday.
Carter, a 5-star recruit, is currently ranked as the country's No. 2 prospect according to ESPN. The 6-foot-10, 162 pound senior from Atlanta, Ga. announced in September that his final four schools were Duke, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Harvard.
Carter is expected to announce his college decision on Wednesday. Carter has offers from 17 different colleges including Georgia Tech, but is expected to choose Duke or Harvard, according to 247 Sports.
The 2017 Naismith Trophy, named after Dr. James Naismith who invented organized basketball in 1891, will be given to the Naismith High School Boys' Player of the Year. Past winners include current NBA players like Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons when he was a senior at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla. in 2015 and reigning NBA Champion Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Love won the award in 2007 when he was a student at Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Ore.
Former winners of the Award also include Dwight Howard of Southwest Atlanta Christian School, Lou Williams of South Gwinnett High School and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James.
On Jan. 12, the Naismith Watch List will be cut to 25 candidates for the mid-season team and the winner will be announced on March 9, 2017.
