BATON ROUGE – LSU freshman Ben Simmons, two games deep into his first season at LSU, is on the list of the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50, announced Tuesday on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com.
The 50 was chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts and the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor.
Simmons is one of seven SEC players on the list, representing the No. 19/23 Tigers, who are 2-0 heading into Thursday night’s game with South Alabama at 8 p.m. at the Maravich Center. Simmons had 11 points and 13 rebounds in his opener and then 22 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 4 steals in the win Monday night, 91-69, over Kennesaw State.
The Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 features three returning Wooden Award All Americans: Ron Baker (Wichita State), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia) and Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga). The list also highlights stars from the 2015 NCAA Tournament: Grayson Allen of NCAA National Champion Duke; two players from NCAA Runner-Up Wisconsin, Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig; Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer, and Domantas Sabonis; Notre Dame’s Zach Auguste; Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine.
The Top 50 nominees represent 10 conferences. The Big Ten leads all conferences with 10 selections, followed by the ACC (9), and the Big 12 (7), SEC (7), Pac-12 (5), Big East (4) and WCC (3). The American and Missouri Valley Conference each have two players selected and the Atlantic 10 has one player selected.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2016 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s. The Wooden Award National Advisory Board will select 25 players to the Midseason Top 25 in early January. In early February, the John R. Wooden Award will announce one final leading candidate list—the Late Season Top 20—prior to the selection of 15 players to the National Ballot.
Nearly 1000 voters will rank order 10 of those 15 players, who have been qualified as meeting the standards set forth by Coach Wooden. Voting will open prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during the early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the John R. Wooden Award will be announced during the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show presented by Wendy’s on Friday, April 8, 2016.
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. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’07), Maya Moore (’09 and ’11), Trey Burke (’13) and Doug McDermott (’14). Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky won the 2015 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s.
Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by liking the Wooden Award Facebook page or following @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
2015-16 John R. Wooden Award
Preseason Watch List
Name, School, Position, Class
Grayson Allen, Duke, G, So.
Zach Auguste, Notre Dame, F, Sr.
Ron Baker, Wichita State, G, Sr.
DeAndre’ Bembry, St. Joseph’s, F, Jr.
James Blackmon Jr., Indiana, G, So.
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia, G, Sr.
Jaylen Brown, Cal, F, Fr.
Jalen Brunson, Villanova, G, Fr.
Kyle Collinsworth, BYU, G, Sr.
Kellen Dunham, Butler, G, Sr.
Kris Dunn, Providence, G, Jr.
Perry Ellis, Kansas, F, Sr.
Yogi Ferrell, Indiana, G, Sr.
Rico Gathers, Baylor, F, Sr.
Anthony Gill, Virginia, F, Sr.
Daniel Hamilton, UConn, G, So.
AJ Hammons, Purdue, C, Sr.
Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin, F, Jr.
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma, G, Sr.
Danuel House, Texas A&M, G, Sr.
Brandon Ingram, Duke, G, Fr.
Demtrius Jackson, Notre Dame, G, Jr.
Brice Johnson, North Carolina, F, Sr.
Damian Jones, Vanderbilt, C, Jr.
Bronson Koenig, Wisconsin, G, Jr.
Skal Labisserie, Kentucky, F, Fr.
Jake Layman, Maryland, F, Sr.
Caris LeVert, Michigan, G, Sr.
Nic Moore, SMU, G, Sr.
Monte Morris, Iowa State, G, Jr.
Jamal Murray, Kentucky, G, Fr.
Malik Newman, Mississippi State, G, Fr.
Georges Niang, Iowa State, F, Sr.
Marcus Paige, North Carolina, G, Sr.
Gary Payton II, Oregon State, G, Sr.
Jakob Poetl, Utah, F, So.
Taurean Prince, Baylor, F, Sr.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Florida State, G, So.
Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga, F, So.
Ben Simmons, LSU, F, Fr.
D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown, G, Sr.
Kaleb Tarczewski, Arizona, C, Sr.
Isaiah Taylor, Texas, G, So.
Melo Trimble, Maryland, G, So.
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky, G, So.
Denzel Valentine, Michigan State, G, Sr.
Fred VanVleet, Wichita State, G, Sr.
Tyrone Wallace, Cal, G, Sr.
Troy Williams, Indiana, F, Jr.
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga, F, Sr.