SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – One day after a teammate garnered a spot on a national watch list, Arizona's Rawle Alkins earned a spot on the Julius Erving Award Preseason Watch List. The award, given to the best small forward in the nation, released its 20-person preseason list. Alkins is named to this preseason list prior to 2017-18 after his decorated freshman campaign that was capped with a spot on the Pac-12 All-Freshmen Team.

The guard was Arizona's third-leading scorer at 10.9 points per game on its 32-5 team in 2016-17.  He recorded a pair of double-doubles, 13 points with 11 rebounds versus New Mexico and 11 points with 15 rebounds at Arizona State, making him the first UA guard with multiple double-doubles in same season since Hassan Adams in 2004-05 season. Alkins also made a name for himself on the perimeter, finishing in seventh place in UA freshman history with 44 made three-point field goals.

Alkins had successful surgery to repair a fractured bone in his right foot on Sept. 27 and is scheduled to return to action eight to 12 weeks after the surgery. The unofficial start to the 2017-18 Arizona Basketball season begins with the annual McDonald's Red-Blue Game on Friday, Oct. 20 with a pair of home exhibitions scheduled for the first week of November.

2018 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award Candidates 

Rawle Alkins	Arizona
Kelan Martin	Butler
Jacob Evans	Cincinnati
Gary Trent Jr.	Duke
Zach Norvell Jr.	Gonzaga
Kevin Knox	Kentucky
Deng Adel	Louisville
Justin Jackson	Maryland
Bruce Brown Jr.	Miami
Miles Bridges	Michigan St.
Tyler Hall	Montana St
Jeffrey Carroll	Oklahoma St.
Troy Brown Jr.	Oregon
Vincent Edwards	Purdue
De'Monte Buckingham	Richmond
DJ Hogg	Texas A&M
Kris Wilkes	UCLA
Mikal Bridges	Villanova
Markis McDuffie	Wichita St.
Trevon Bluiett	Xavier

    *Players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point in the 2017-18 season*