Kelan Martin is now a top-five finalist for the 2018 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award. A national committee placed Martin on a watch list back in October and the senior standout made the cut to the top ten in early February.
 
Named after Hall of Famer and 11-time NBA All-Star Julius Erving, the annual honor in its fourth year recognizes the top small forwards in Division I men's college basketball. The five finalists will be presented to Mr. Erving and the Hall of Fame's selection committee for the 2018 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
 
The winner will be honored at ESPN's College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, April 6, 2018. The awards will be televised live on ESPN2 at 8:00 PM EST. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award.
 
Martin was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team and was recently selected to the All-District Team. Martin averaged 21.2 points per game during the regular season and hit the 30-point plateau four times. He now has 1,961 career points moving to third on Butler's all-time scoring list.
 
The winner of this award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame's selection committee. By visiting hoophallawards.com, fans will have the ability to vote for who they think should win. The voting opens on Friday, March 9 and will run until Friday, March 23.
 
The player that wins the fan voting will receive one additional vote for the award. The overall winner will then be selected by the selection committee on Friday, March 23.
 
Previous winners of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award include Josh Hart, Villanova (2017), Denzel Valentine, Michigan State (2016) and Stanley Johnson, Arizona (2015). For more information on the Julius Erving Award, visit www.HoophallAwards.com.

2018 Finalists
 

	Kelan Martin	Butler
	Miles Bridges	Michigan St.
	Keita Bates-Diop	Ohio St.
	Mikal Bridges	Villanova
	Trevon Bluiett	Xavier