NEW ORLEANS – Two Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball players - Troy junior forward Thomas Dowd and Marshall senior guard Jalen Speer - have been named to the 2025-26 Lou Henson Award Early Season Watch List.
 
The Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award is presented annually to the best mid-major player in NCAA Division I men’s college basketball. The 2026 award will be announced in Indianapolis, Ind., the site of this season’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
 
A Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team selection, Dowd currently ranks 11th nationally in rebounds per game (10.4) and eighth in double-doubles with six. Averaging 15.3 points and over 10.4 boards per contest, he is one of just nine players in the country currently averaging at least 15 points and 10 rebounds per game.
 
Also a Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team choice, Speer leads the Sun Belt in total assists (64) and assists per game (5.8) this season which both rank in the top 35 nationally, while his 2.56 assist-to-turnover ratio stands second in the conference. Speer is also averaging 14 points per game and has three 20-point performances in the Herd’s first 11 games of the year.
 
Last season, James Madison guard Mark Freeman and Troy guard Tayton Conerway were two of just 35 players nationally to be chosen as finalists for the award.
 
About The Lou Henson Award
The Lou Henson Award honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons. The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.