UNM's Donovan Dent lands on national player of the year watchlist; former Lobo Greg Brown honored

Just about everyone around the Mountain West has been saying he’s the league’s best player for months.

Friday brought more proof that some around the country consider Donovan Dent one of the best players in all college basketball.

UNM’s 6-foot-2 junior point guard on Friday was named to the 2025 Naismith Men’s Player of the Year Midseason Team — a watchlist of 30 players considered to be the top contenders for the Naismith Player of the Year award, as decided on by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

The Naismith list is Dent’s second midseason watchlist for national player of the year, also being named last week to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Year watchlist.

When snubbed from being named two weeks ago to the Bob Cousy Award watchlist for the nation’s top point guards, UNM coach Richard Pitino made clear two things: He hates midseason watchlists or awards — “they don’t mean anything!” — and as long as there are midseason awards, it’s ridiculous to not have Dent included on them.

“I don’t pretend to know all these other players very, very well. I mean, I watch St John’s and I watch us,” Pitino said. “But I will just say Donovan, from an impact standpoint, in my opinion, is absolutely a Top 10 point guard in the country.

“Now, we set team goals every single year, and I would hope Donovan’s individual goal is to not be (the winner of some award). Donovan’s radar, in my opinion, should be, hopefully to graduate from the University of New Mexico, hopefully to develop as a human being, hopefully to be in a position to play NBA basketball, if not NBA, then overseas or G-League, or whatever he desires to do help us win, which I know he’s done that.”

Dent was the only Mountain West player listed on either the Robertson or Naismith midseason watchlists. He was also one of only four players outside of college basketball’s Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) to make the Naismith list.

He’s certainly got the attention of opposing coaches, too.

Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun, whose second-place Aggies (22-3, 12-2 Mountain West) visit a sold-out Pit on Sunday for a rematch with the first-place Lobos (21-4, 13-1), said after his team lost to UNM in Logan, Utah, on Feb. 1 that Dent is not just one of the nation’s best players, but one of the few he gets excited to watch when viewing game film.

“When you’ve got a guy like Donovan Dent,” Calhoun said. “He’s one of the best point guards not only in the Mountain West, but in the country. You get him the ball and, obviously, he makes a lot of great decisions.

“He’s fun to watch. There’s not a ton of guys I get excited to watch when I’m watching on film, but his decision-making is high, high level. He’s a high level player.”

Through 25 games, Dent leads the Mountain West in scoring (19.6 points per game), is second in assists (6.5), sixth in steals (1.6), seventh in field goal percentage (.490) and 13th in blocks (0.8). And it’s not just offense. Dent also leads the league in games with at least one steal and one blocked shot with 15.

Former Lobo Brown gets Hall of Fame love

Former Lobo great Greg Brown, who won the 1994 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award for the best player in college basketball under 6-feet tall (a different Naismith award from the one Dent is nominated for), has been inducted into another hall of fame.

Brown’s family on Thursday night in Hobbs, where Brown was an All-American for New Mexico Junior College before moving on to become a Lobo legend, accepted on his behalf his induction into the Western Junior College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.

Brown, who died in June at the age of 51 in a car crash outside Albuquerque, started all 64 games he played at NMJC, led the Thunderbirds to a WJCAC championship, was WJCAC Player of the Year and a NJCAA All-American in 1992.

Before NMJC, he was a state champion and player of the year at Albuquerque High. After NMJC, he became a star for the Lobos and was the 1994 WAC Player of the Year after averaging 19.3 points per game. He was inducted into the UNM Hall of Honor in 2007 and the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

Cable wars

While YouTubeTV and Paramount are continuing a contract dispute, the two companies announced on Friday that they have come to a temporary agreement to continue broadcasting networks under the Paramount umbrella for a short period of time while negotiating.

Paramount is the parent company of the CBS Sports Network, the station broadcasting many Mountain West conference games, including Sunday’s showdown between Utah State and UNM. They also broadcast all Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal and semifinal games and the MW women’s tournament championship game.

It is unclear if the temporary extension covers those March games, but for now, Sunday’s game is scheduled to be on for YouTubeTV customers.