Per University Of Louisville Sports Release:
ATLANTA – University of Louisville men’s basketball junior forward Flory Bidunga and senior guard Jackson Shelstad are two of 50 players on the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Trophy Watch List.
Bidunga is the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He led the Big 12 in blocks (91) and blocks per game (2.6) while finishing the 2025-26 season fourth and fifth, respectively, in those categories nationally.
Bidunga, originally from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, shot 64% from the floor during the year, leading the Big 12 and ranking 10th around the country. He logged four games of 20 or more points and notched 13 double-doubles during the season. Overall, Bidunga averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.
The 6-10, 235-pound forward earned All-Big 12 First Team and All-Defensive Team honors. In addition to the league honors, Bidunga was a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award and was on both late season lists for the Naismith Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards.
During his freshman year, Bidunga set the Kansas freshman field goal percentage record as he shot at a blistering 69.8% clip. He led the Jayhawks with 54 blocks on the year and his average of 1.6 blocks per game was third best in the Big 12.
On Wednesday night against Mercyhurst, Bidunga finished with a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds, tacking one two blocks and a steal.
Shelstad, out of West Linn, Oregon, joined the Cardinals in 2026-27 after three seasons at Oregon where he started 77 of 79 games in his career.
The 6-1, 185-pound guard played in 12 games for the Ducks in 2025-26, averaging 15.6 points, 4.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals per contest. He recorded five games of 20 points or more and delivered four or more assists in nine of his 12 games.
As a sophomore, Shelstad was named Third Team All-Big 10 after averaging 13.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He logged 25 contests of double figure scoring and 10 games with four-plus assists per game. There were 21 games where Shelstad knocked down multiple 3’s for Oregon.
In Oregon’s Round of 32 game against Arizona in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Shelstad scored 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting. It was the second-most he has scored in his career, just behind a 26-point performance against Northwestern earlier that sophomore season.
Shelstad was named to the Pac-12 All Freshman Team and the Pac 12 All-Tournament Team during the 2023-24 season. In his debut collegiate season, he averaged 12.8 points, 2.8 assists and 2.9 boards per game. He helped the Ducks maintain the third best assist to turnover ratio in the Pac 12 at 1.36. The freshman notched 23 double digit scoring outings.
When the Cardinals played at Kansas on Oct. 21 in an exhibition game, Shelstad went 8 of 15 from the field, netting 4 of 8 shots beyond the arc. He scored 23 points in 32 minutes and tacked on four rebounds and three steals.
