AAC Basketball: 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
16. James Woodard
He was a 6’3 wing from Arcadia, Oklahoma, but Woodard flew under the radar a bit early in his career, landing at Tulsa back in 2012. The Golden Hurricane didn’t join the AAC until 2014, meaning we’re not really considering his first two collegiate seasons. He had a solid start in Conference USA and started nearly all of the 131 games he played in his career, but this talented guard left us plenty to consider in his upperclassmen seasons.
Year three at Tulsa was not just the team’s first in the AAC but the first under new head coach Frank Haith. Woodard averaged 14.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Golden Hurricane. He was actually the program’s leading scorer in each of his final three seasons. He had a 30-point performance late in his junior season against SMU and led Tulsa to the NCAA Tournament in his senior year, losing to Michigan in the First Four.
Woodward was named First Team All-AAC in each of those last two seasons and helped lead the Golden Hurricane to their most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament. He was a potent offensive threat and was a very important part of Tulsa’s transition into the AAC after great success late in the CUSA. Woodard is a name that many might have forgotten or not known at the time, but he was a very talented piece of the puzzle in this conference.