College Basketball: Top 10 Candidates for the Wooden Award
Before this season started, we had an idea of who was going to be in the running for the Wooden Award which National Player of the Year because of the preseason All-American list that was released to begin the college hoop festivities.
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The First-Team All-American squad boasted LSU forward Ben Simmons, Gonzaga foward Kyle Wiltjer, Maryland point guard Melo Trimble, North Carolina point guard Marcus Paige, and Oklahoma’s shooting guard Buddy Hield.
The Second-Team All-American featured Kentucky center Skal Labissiere, Iowa State forward Georges Niang, Wichita State guard Ron Baker, Indiana guard Yogi Ferrell, and Providence point guard Kris Dunn.
Some of these players have played up to their preseason billing by living up to the hype in non-conference play, while others have come up short or have their best basketball ahead of them. Some players who were not mentioned going into the season have played their way into the Wooden Award conversation.
In a way, when you look at these preseason All-American teams they are pretty much a list of players that are in the running for the Wooden Award which is given to the collegiate Player of the Year.
We have followed what all of these players have done to this point in the season as their teams are making the January turn into conference play and decided to come up with a Top 10 Player Ranking for the Wooden Award.
These are the ten players who should be in the thick of things for National College Player of the Year heading into league play based on what they have done in the non-conference.