University of North Carolina Athletics
Four Tar Heels On Wooden Award Top 50 List
October 3, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 3, 2011
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina became the first school to have four players named to the Wooden Award preseason top 50 list when Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, John Henson and Kendall Marshall grabbed spots on the list, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced on Monday. No other Atlantic Coast Conference players made the list.
Previous Tar Heels to win the Wooden Award include Phil Ford (1978), Michael Jordan (1984), Antawn Jamison (1998) and Tyler Hansbrough (2008).
Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball media members, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year's individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.
Behind the Tar Heels' total of four nominees, Ohio State (returning Wooden All-America Jared Sullinger, William Buford and Aaron Craft) and Vanderbilt (Festus Ezeli, John Jenkins and Jeffery Taylor) had three players chosen. Six schools had two players named to the Preseason List: California (Jorge Gutierrez, Allen Crabbe); Connecticut (Jeremy Lamb, Alex Oriakhi); Memphis (Will Barton, Joe Jackson); Syracuse (Scoop Jardine, Kris Joseph); and UCLA (Reeves Nelson, Joshua Smith).
Nineteen of the 50 players named were from two conferences, the Big East (10) and Big Ten (9). The SEC had seven players chosen, followed by the ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 each with four; and the Atlantic 10, Big West and Conference USA with two each. Conferences with one players named include the Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West and WCC.
Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the Preseason list. The players on the Preseason list are considered strong candidates for the Midseason list and the official voting ballot, both of which are open to freshman and transfer students. The National Ballot consists of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and 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.
The 36th annual Wooden Award ceremony marks the 25th anniversary of the selection of the Naval Academy's David Robinson as the Wooden Award winner. The 2012 event will honor 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. It will take place the weekend of April 6-8, 2012.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA.
