Los Angeles (March 8, 2014)— The John R. Wooden Award Ballot was announced today by The Los Angeles Athletic Club on ESPN College GameDay. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the ballot is made up of 15 student-athletes who are the eligible 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.

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 after voting by nearly 1,000 media members from March 12 through 24 and through the Fan Voting site sponsored by Wendy’s. The John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s will be announced on ESPN during the Final Four Weekend in Dallas, Texas. The 38th annual Wooden Award Gala presented by Wendy’s will honor the male and female Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, this year given to Stanford Head Women’s Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer. The Gala will take place the weekend of April 11-12, 2014 at The Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Creighton senior forward Doug McDermott, a Wooden Award All American in 2012 and 2013, looks to become the first three-time selection on the men’s side since North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (2007-09). McDermott is the nation’s leading scorer at 26.0 ppg (through March 2) and adds 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He is the only returning Wooden All American this season and now ranks among the all-time top 10 scorers in Division I history, edging closer to the 3,000-career total point plateau as the regular season winds down.

Tyler Ennis of Syracuse, Jabari Parker of Duke, Julius Randle of Kentucky, and Andrew Wiggins of Kansas made the ballot as freshmen.  Syracuse (Ennis, C.J. Fair) is the only school with two players named to the ballot.

Three players were selected to the ballot who were not on the Midseason Top 25, all of whom do a little bit of everything for their teams: Michigan State guard Gary Harris, who averages 17.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists; Cincinnati senior Sean Kilpatrick (20.3 ppg), who has taken his team to a No. 15 ranking by leading the Bearcats in scoring in 25 of their 30 games; and Michigan guard Nik Stauskas (17.1 ppg, 3.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists), one of the nation’s top three-point shooters.

The ACC and The American lead the way in terms of conferences, with three selections. The Pac-12, SEC and Big Ten each have two, followed by the Big East, Missouri Valley, and Big 12 each with one player named to the ballot.
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