Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl brings the ball up the court during the GLIAC Tournament championship game played against Grand Valley State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on March 8. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Even while not receiving another actual award, men’s basketball player Dylan Kuehl of Northern Michigan University is moving into some rarified air.

The graduate student forward from Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, was named a national finalist for two prestigious awards on Saturday. The announcement was made between the two NCAA Division I Final Four men’s games that were won by the Michigan Wolverines and UConn Huskies.

Kuehl is one of just four finalists for the Trevor Hudgins Award and one of eight on the last list for the Bevo Francis Award.

Kuehl was already named a First Team All-American by the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association, along with Midwest Player of the Year and two of the major awards in NMU’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference — Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Among the national awards, two other players are also finalists in each, Ben Pearce of Emory University in Atlanta and Zevi Samet of Yeshiva University of New York City.

Earlier, in the late winter, the initial lists were compiled for each award, with the Bevo Francis starting with a top 100, then 50 on Feb. 15, and top 25 on March 15. The Trevor Hudgins started with 25 players on Feb. 1, pared down to 15 on March 1.

The winners of both awards were to be announced during halftime of the NCAA Division I men’s championship game on Monday evening, also the day after former GLIAC member Gannon (Pennsylvania) won the NCAA Division II national title.

The other finalist for the Trevor Hudgins was Jack Browder of Carson-Newman (Tennessee), while the other finalists for the Bevo Francis Award are Luke Chicone of John Carroll (Ohio), Dallas Graziani and Ross Reeves of Nova Southeastern (Florida), and Jalen Langsy and Jesse Van Kalsbeek of Northwestern (Iowa).

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the award announcement. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.