LOS ANGELES, CA (March 7, 2015) -- The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2015 National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s on ESPN College GameDay today. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the list is comprised of 15 student-athletes who are the frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor. All balloted players have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA.

Voting begins March 16, and voters, consisting of nearly 1,000 members of the national college basketball media, may take into consideration the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Voting ends March 23. Fans may vote through the fan voting site sponsored by Wendy’s, woodenawardvote.com. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament and will be the focus of a 30-minute show on ESPNU on Monday, March 30^th (8pm EDT) that will announce the Wooden All-American team and the five finalists for the Wooden Award. The women’s ballot will be released next week.

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. This announcement of the winners will be televised live on ESPN2 from Club Nokia in Los Angeles at 5 p.m. on Friday April 10 as part of the first ever College Basketball Awards Show Presented by Wendy’s.

The ACC leads the conference tally with four of the 15 players, followed by the Big 12, Big Ten, Missouri Valley, SEC and WCC with two selections each, and the Pac-12 with one.  No school had two players on the ballot. Three players were chosen to the ballot who were not on the Late Season Top 20 list or Midseason Top 25: Malcolm Brogdon, who averages 13.6 points for ACC regular season champion Virginia; Rakeem Christmas of Syracuse (17.6 ppg/9.0 rpg); and Seth Tuttle of Northern Iowa (15.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg).

Other players of note statistically (through March 4) who made the ballot include BYU’s Tyler Haws, the nation’s No. 3 scorer at 21.9 ppg; and Jahlil Okafor of Duke, who is No. 2 nationally in FG% (66.5).

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].

John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's

2014-15 National Ballot 

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www.woodenaward.com