The B1G has long been known for some elite big men, and that was evident once again on Friday.

Heading into the weekend, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced that the watchlist for the 2021 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award has been narrowed down to 10 players. Remarkably, half of that list hails from the B1G.

Those stars are Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Luka Garza (Iowa), Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), Liam Robbins (Minnesota), and Trevion Williams (Purdue). Garza captured the award in 2020.

Here is the complete list of 10 semifinalists:

Fan voting for the award is now live, and a group of five finalists will be selected in late February. The winner of the award will be announced on April 9.

Of this group, Garza leads the conference in points per game at 26.9. That mark is also the best in the nation.

Cockburn (17.4), Williams (15.3), and Dickinson (15.1) also rank in the top 10 of the B1G in points per game. Robbins leads the B1G at 2.6 blocks per game and Cockburn leads the conference at 10.3 rebounds per game.

Needless to say, we think at least a couple of these guys will likely be finalists for this year’s award.