Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky wins 2015 John R. Wooden Award

April 10, 2015

Wisconsin senior center Frank Kaminsky won another very impressive piece of hardware for his mantle, as he was named the winner of the 2015 John R. Wooden Award before a live audience at Club Nokia.  Coach Wooden’s grandson, Greg Wooden, made the announcement.

Kaminsky, who also received the 2015 Oscar Robertson Trophy, ultimately fell a few plays short of earning a championship ring in the NCAA title game.  Nevertheless, the Wooden Award Trophy he received is a tremendous honor, as the trophy's unique design was inspired by Coach Wooden’s idea of the “total basketball player.”

Kaminsky, a versatile big with a skilled inside-out game, averaged 18.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.5 blocks in his outstanding senior season in which he was named Big Ten Player of the Year.

He had 20 points and 11 rebounds in the Badgers’ historic win over Kentucky in the Final Four semifinals. He is the first winner ever from Wisconsin and the first Big Ten winner since Trey Burke of Michigan in 2013.

The Big Ten boasts three winners in the past six years. In total, five Big Ten players have won the Wooden Award: Kaminsky, Burke, Evan Turner of Ohio State, Glenn Robinson of Purdue; and Indiana’s Calbert Cheaney.

A voting base of nearly 1,000 college basketball experts throughout the nation ranked players from 10 to 1, and fans voted through the Fan Voting site woodenawardvote.com. Voters could consider performance through the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.

Kaminsky received 3,385 points, followed by Duke’s Jahlil Okafor (3,060); Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein (2,361); Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant (1,870); and Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell (1,583). Rounding out the Top 10 were Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer (1,346); Seth Tuttle of Northern Iowa (1,009); Utah’s Delon Wright (967); Ron Baker of Wichita State (907); and Malcolm Brogdon of Virginia (864). All 10 players are designated as Wooden Award All Americans for 2015.

In addition to Kaminsky, Okafor, Grant, Russell, and Wright attended the Awards show, which honored the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, and included the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, this year given to Steve Fisher of San Diego State. Breanna Stewart of Connecticut won the 2015 Women's Wooden Award.

As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the Award’s creation 39 years ago, All Americans have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services

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