Wooden Award announces Preseason Top 50

November 17, 2015

The John R. Wooden Award today announced its Preseason Top 50 list of the 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor.  The list was chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, and features three returning Wooden Award All Americans: Ron Baker (Wichita State), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), and Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga).

In addition, the list also highlights several stars from the 2015 NCAA Tournament: Grayson Allen of Duke; Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig; Gonzaga’s Domantas Sabonis; Notre Dame’s Zach Auguste; and Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine.

The trend of recognizing outstanding freshman continues with seven potential "one-and-dones" named to the list: Jaylen Brown of California; Brandon Ingram of Duke; Skal Labissiere and Jamal Murray of Kentucky; Ben Simmons of Louisiana State; Malik Newman of Mississippi State; and Jalen Brunson of Villanova.

Other notables include Daniel Hamilton, a 2014 Wooden Award High School Player of the Year while at St. John Bosco High School, and Kris Dunn of Providence, who finished last season ranked third nationally in assists per game (7.5).

Several universities boast multiple players on the list. Indiana (James Blackmon, Jr., Yogi Ferrell and Troy Williams) and Kentucky (Skal Labissiere, Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis) lead the honors with three candidates apiece, while Baylor, California, Duke, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Maryland, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia, Wichita State, and Wisconsin each have two players each on the Preseason Top 50.

The Top 50 nominees represent 10 conferences. The Big Ten leads all conferences with 10 selections, followed by the ACC (9), and the Big 12 (7), SEC (7), Pac-12 (5), Big East (4), and WCC (3). The American and Missouri Valley Conference each have two players selected, and the Atlantic 10 has one player selected.

In early February, the John R. Wooden Award will announce one final leading candidate list—the Late Season Top 20—prior to the selection of 15 players to the National Ballot. Nearly 1000 voters will rank order 10 of those 15 players, who have been qualified as meeting the standards set forth by Coach Wooden.

Voting will open prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during the early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the John R. Wooden Award will be announced on Friday, April 8, 2016.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services

No comments:

Post a Comment

We encourage all intelligent, passionate comments. Please refrain from any ignorant, racist, or offensive rants.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...