KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Southwest Minnesota State University senior guard Jakob Braaten was named to the 2025-26 Trevor Hudgins Award Top 25 Watch List by Small College Basketball on Sunday, which honors a player's career accomplishments.
 
Braaten earlier this month was named to the Top 100 Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award awarded annually to the best Small College Basketball player for a single season.
 
First awarded following the 2023-24 season, the Trevor Hudgins Award is presented annually to the senior who has had the finest overall career within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played their entire career at the small college level.
 
"Congratulations to the 25 players that have made the Trevor Hudgins Award Watch List, as this is an elite list of players in their final year of eligibility that have played their entire careers at the small college level --- and they have excelled, and helped to lead their respective teams to great success," said John McCarthy from Small College Basketball. "Thank you to our SCB National Awards Committee for providing excellent information and insight, and thank you to all of those coaches, SID's and others that have submitted nominations."
 
Braaten, a native of Byron, Minn., leads SMSU in several statistical categories this season including scoring (15.0), field goals (119), rebounds (5.5), assists (98) and free throw pct. (81.9). He has scored 20 or more points seven times this season, including a career-high 27 at Concordia-St. Paul in December. He also dished out a school single-game record 17 assists in a victory over North Central earlier this season.
 
In the NCAA Division II national statistics as of Jan. 29, he ranked 31^st in assists per game, 32^nd in assists, 93^rd in field goal pct. and 95^th in assist/turnover ratio.
 
Braaten has played 106 career games, ranking fifth in team history in assists (333) and sixth in steals (146). He has scored 1,068 career points while making 399 of 800 field goals (49.9) with 74 3-pointers.
 
The 2025-26 season marks the third time that the Trevor Hudgins Award will be awarded. In 2023-24, KJ Jones of Emannuel College was named the inaugural winner. Kaleb Lowery of The Master's received the award in 2025. On March 1, the list will be reduced to 15 players. The video of the finalists will be released on April 4 and the award winner will be announced through a video presentation on April 6 at halftime of the NCAA Division I National Championship Game.
 
Considerations for the Trevor Hudgins Award are overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played his entire career at the small college level. This is the highest award given to a four-year (or five-year) player within Small College Basketball. The overall intent of the Trevor Hudgins Award is two-fold:  1) To keep the collegiate legacy of Trevor Hudgins alive and continue to tell his story to the next generation, and 2) To provide a national platform to honor outstanding players – and ultimately one player – within small college basketball on an annual basis. The Trevor Hudgins Award is sponsored by Northwest Missouri State University.
 
The Small College Basketball National Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart - Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Mark Vanderslice – USC – Aiken, Matt O'Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Justin Leslie – Midwestern State, Raul Placeres – Maryville College (TN), Chris Martin – Loras (IA), John Lamanna – Whitman (WA), Brian Miller – MSOE, Justin Downer – Point Loma Nazarene, Matt Capell – STAC, Scott Moore – Grace, Keven Bradley – Hillsdale, Mark Rutledge – Southern Arkansas, Chase Tiechmann – Georgia Gwinnett, Mick Hedgepeth – Alabama Huntsville.
 
For more information on the Trevor Hudgins Award or Small College Basketball, please head to smallcollegebasketball.com.
 
2025-26 Trevor Hudgins Award Watch List
Ty Allred                                  6'9"     Colorado Mesa
Jakob Braaten                         6'0"     Southwest Minnesota State
Jack Browder                          6'4"     Carson-Newman
Bradley Bunch                        6'6"     Pikeville
Carl Cleveland                        6'6"     Young Harris
Hayden Diekhans                    6'6"     Montana Tech
Dallas Dillard                          6'3"     IUP
Mason Dopirak                       6'2"     MSOE
Scott Gyimesi                          6'6"     Tufts
Justin Hemphill                       6'6"     Daemen
Avery Jackson                         6'3"     The Master's
Jair Knight                               6'2"     Emory
Nick Koch                                6'1"     College of New Jersey
Dylan Kuehl                            6'6"     Northern Michigan
Chase Morgan                        6'6"     Maryville (TN)
Jarrel Okorougo                      6'5"     Trinity (CT)
Ben Pearce                              6'1"     Emory
Shane Regan                           6'4"     Chicago
Nick Roper                              6'8"     Chicago
Zevi Samet                              6'2"     Yeshiva
Marcus Tomashek                  6'6"     Michigan Tech
Henry Vetter                           6'5"     Trinity (CT)     
A.J. White                               5'10"   North Georgia
Maceo Williams                      6'7"     Ashland
Andrew Young                        6'9"     Missouri S&T
 
SMSU (14-7, 12-4 NSIC), currently tied for second place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, returns to action on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. game at league-leading St. Cloud State.