The the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced its Preseason Top 50 on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com for the Wooden Award. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early frontrunners for the sport’s most prestigious honor. Four Wildcats were among the list of 50.
Junior Willie Cauley-Stein, sophomores Aaron and Andrew Harrison, and freshman Karl-Anthony Towns helped lead UK with four selections to the preseason list.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2015 John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s. The Wooden Award National Advisory Board will select 25 players for the midseason list in early January. The leading candidates will be further pared to 20 in early February. Fifteen top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 grade-point average will be placed on the ballot and submitted to voters prior to the NCAA Tournament and voting will take into account play during the opening rounds of the tournament. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ‘11).
Top-ranked Kentucky resumes action on Tuesday in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis. UK takes on No. 5 Kansas in a tilt slated for approximately 9:30 p.m.
