LATE SEASON TOP 20 ANNOUNCED

BY JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESENTED BY WENDY’S^®

 Players not on the list are still eligible for next month’s ballot

LOS ANGELES, CA (February 11, 2015) --  For the first time, The Los Angeles Athletic Club has added a Late Season Top 20 in an effort to further narrow down the list of outstanding candidates for the 2015 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s. This list of players was announced on ESPN.com today at Noon EST, and will be discussed in depth on ESPNU on a half-hour show airing tonight at 6:30 p.m. EST.

All Late Season Top 20 players appeared on last month’s Midseason Top 25; however, players not on this most recent list are still eligible for the ballot, which will consist of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Voting begins at the end of the season, and voters, consisting of nearly 1,000 members of the national college basketball media, will take into account the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  The Wooden Award All American Team, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The women’s Late Season Top 20 will be released at the end of this week.

Louisville (Montrezl Harrell, Terry Rozier), Duke (Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor) and Gonzaga (Kevin Pangos, Kyle Wiltjer) each had two players selected to the Late Season Top 20. All three teams are ranked in this week’s AP Top 10. The ACC leads the conference tally with six out of the 20 players, followed by the Big 12, Pac-12 and WCC with three selections each, the Big Ten and SEC with two each, and the Missouri Valley with one.

The 39th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor and reveal the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, which in 2015 will go to San Diego State Head Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Fisher. The event will take place the weekend of April 10-12, 2015.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball.  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). Creighton’s Doug McDermott won the 2014 Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the All American recipients. The Award has also sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award’s name.   Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament.  The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by going to the Wooden Award facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward or twitter feed @WoodenAward.  For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5231 or via email at [email protected].

2014-15 John R. Wooden Award^®Presented by Wendy’s^®

Late Season Top 20