Kentucky Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks place four on Wooden Watch List
By Jacob Rude
The Kentucky Wildcats led the way with four players listed on the Wooden Award watch list, presented to college basketball’s top player at the end of the season.
The Harrison twins, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison, as well as Karl Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein all found their way onto the list. Similarly, the Kansas Jayhawks placed four players of their own on the list: Kelly Oubre, Wayne Selden, Cliff Alexander, and Perry Ellis.
Each of the other top five teams had multiple players on the list, Arizona with three (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson, Brandon Ashley), Duke with two (Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones), and Wisconsin with two (Sam Dekker, Frank Kaminsky).
Doug McDermott took home the award last season, Trey Burke the year before him. While McDermott’s Creighton has no player on the list, Burke’s Michigan team has one player on the list in Carls LeVert.
Seven freshmen found their way onto the list, with Myles Turner being the other inclusion with Okafor, Jones, Johnson, Oubre, Alexander, and Towns. Anthony Davis is the last freshman to win the award back in 2011-12, while Durant was the one previous to him in 2006-07. In fact, those are the only two freshman to have ever won the award, which could certainly change this season with the influx of freshmen big men.
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