The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced its 2021 Men’s National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® today on ESPN College GameDay. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding college basketball player in the United States.

Despite not previously appearing in the Wooden Watch this season, E.J. Liddell of Ohio State makes his debut on the National Ballot. Three schools have multiple players on the Wooden Award National Ballot, led by Gonzaga with three selections (Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs, and Drew Timme), followed by Illinois (Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu) and Villanova (Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl). The Big Ten leads all conferences with six selections, followed by the WCC with three, the Big East and Big 12 with two each, and the Pac-12 and C-USA with one selection apiece.

All balloted players have been certified by their university to meet or exceed the qualifications for the Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden when the Award was established. The qualifications include: candidates must exhibit strength of character, both on and off the court; candidates must be full-time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; candidates must be making progress toward graduation and have a cumulative 2.00 grade point average since enrolling in their school; candidates must contribute to team effort; candidates must excel in both offense and defense; and candidates should be considered on their performance over the course of the entire season.

Voting will take place from March 15th to March 22nd, and voters take into consideration a player’s entire season of play, as well as the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The finalists for the 2021 Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s will be announced on March 26^th.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing the Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, the Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legends of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed 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), Breanna Stewart (’15; ’16) and last year’s recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Obi Toppin of Dayton.

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 usually hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend. Due to the pandemic, the tournament is on pause.

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.

###

Wooden Award

Presented by Wendy’s

2020-21 Men’s National Ballot

* indicates player selected as 2020 Wooden Award All American