Top 50 List

LOS ANGELES - Senior guard Kevin Pangos was named to the 2015 John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced on Monday.

Pangos enters his final season as a Zag after leading GU to West Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles last season. He averaged 14.4 points, 3.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game in 2013-14. He was named to the preseason All-WCC First Team earlier this fall, while the team was picked to win the regular season title by the league's coaches.

Pangos helped lead the team to a season-opening 46-point win over Sacramento State last Friday. He dropped in 16 points, including two three-pointers which brought him into a tie for fourth all-time at GU with 243 made threes.

This marks the second straight year that Pangos was included on the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List.

Pangos was also named to the preseason Bob Cousy Award Watch List, which is an award given to the nation's top collegiate point guard, and the Lute Olson Award Watch List, which is given to the nation's top player.

The Los Angeles Athletic Club has announced its Preseason Top 50 today on ESPN's SportsCenter and on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the sport's most prestigious honor.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2015 John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's. The Wooden Award National Advisory Board will select 25 players for the midseason list in early January. The leading candidates will be further pared to 20 in early February. Fifteen 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 will be placed on the ballot and submitted to voters prior to the NCAA Tournament and voting will take into account play during the opening rounds of the tournament. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round of the NCAA Tournament.

About the John R. Wooden Award

The 39th annual Wooden Award ceremony 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, which in 2015 will go to San Diego State Head Men's Basketball Coach Steve Fisher. The event will take place the weekend of April 10-12, 2015.

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 ('09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut ('09 and ‘11). Creighton's Doug McDermott won the 2014 Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the All American recipients. The Award has also sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award's name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by going to the Wooden Award facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward or twitter feed @WoodenAward. For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5231 or via email at woodenaward@laac.net.

2014-15 John R. Wooden Award^® Presented by Wendy's^®
Preseason Top 50