LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 6, 2018) – The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® announced its Preseason Top 50 Watch List today on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.

Several universities boast multiple players on the list: Duke (RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Zion Williamson), Gonzaga (Rui Hachimura, Zach Norvell Jr., and KillianTillie), and Kentucky (Keldon Johnson, Reid Travis, and P.J. Washington) lead the way with three selections apiece, while Indiana (Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan), Kansas (Quentin Grimes and Dedric Lawson), Michigan State (Nick Ward and Cassius Winston), Nevada (Caleb Martin and Cody Martin), North Carolina (Nassir Little and Luke Maye), Villanova (Phil Booth and Eric Paschall), and Virginia (Kyle Guy and De’Andre Hunter) each have two players on the Preseason Top 50.

Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 34 are upperclassmen, including 19 seniors. The recent trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with eight named to the list: Duke’s Barrett, Reddish, and Williamson, Darius Garland of Vanderbilt, Quentin Grimes of Kansas, Kentucky’s Johnson, Indiana’s Langford and North Carolina’s Little.

The Preseason Top 50 list represents 12 conferences. The ACC leads all conferences with 10 selections, followed by the Big Ten and SEC with 9 selections apiece and the Big 12 and Big East with five each. The Pac-12 and WCC have three selections apiece and the Mountain West has two. The Atlantic 10, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, and Summit League each have one selection.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2019 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during 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 2019 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s during the ESPN College Basketball Awards on Friday, April 12, 2019.

About the John R. Wooden Award

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 basketball player at an NCAA Division I university who has proven to his or her university that he or she meets or exceeds the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07 & ’08), Maya Moore (’09 & ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), and last year’s recipients, A’ja Wilson of South Carolina and Jalen Brunson of Villanova.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.

For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.

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John R. Wooden Award Presented By Wendy’s

2018-19 Preseason Top 50