SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga's
Graham Ike and
Ryan Nembhard were named to The John R. Wooden Award presented by Principal Preseason Top 50 Watch List today on ESPN's SportsCenter.
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 most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team and Most Outstanding Player Award.
The 2023 Wooden Award Winner Zach Edey (Purdue) headlines the Preseason Top 50 along with 2021 Wooden Award All American Hunter Dickinson (Kansas). Three schools lead with three selections on the Preseason Top 50: Creighton (Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman), Duke (Kyle Filipowski, Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach), and Kansas (Dickinson, Dajuan Harris Jr. and Kevin McCullar Jr.). Several other schools boast multiple players on the list: Connecticut (Donovan Clingan and Tristen Newton), Gonzaga (
Graham Ike and
Ryan Nembhard), Houston (L.J. Cryer and Jamal Shead), Marquette (Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek), Miami (FL) (Norchad Omier and Nijel Pack), North Carolina (Armando Bacot and RJ Davis), and USC (Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis).
Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 41 are upperclassmen, including 29 seniors. The recent trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with three named to the Preseason Top 50: Collier (USC), Justin Edwards (Kentucky), and Ja'Kobe Walter (Baylor).
The Preseason Top 50 represents 11 conferences. The ACC and Big East leads all conferences with ten selections each, followed by the Big 12 with seven, Pac-12 with six, the Big Ten and SEC with five each, the WCC with three, and the American, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, and Mountain West with one selection apiece.
Wooden Award Preseason Top 50
| Max Abmas |
Texas |
| Trey Alexander |
Creighton |
| Armando Bacot |
North Carolina |
| Oumar Ballo |
Arizona |
| Reece Beekman |
Virginia |
| Adem Bona |
UCLA |
| Johni Broome |
Auburn |
| Boo Buie |
Northwestern |
| Donovan Clingan |
Connecticut |
| Isaiah Collier |
USC |
| L.J. Cryer |
Houston |
| Tristan da Silva |
Colorado |
| N'Faly Dante |
Oregon |
| Johnell Davis |
Florida Atlantic |
| RJ Davis |
North Carolina |
| Tucker DeVries |
Drake |
| Hunter Dickinson# |
Kansas |
| Zach Edey* |
Purdue |
| Justin Edwards |
Kentucky |
| Boogie Ellis |
USC |
| Kyle Filipowski |
Duke |
| PJ Hall |
Clemson |
| Dajuan Harris Jr. |
Kansas |
| DaRon Holmes II |
Dayton |
| Bryce Hopkins |
Providence |
| Graham Ike |
Gonzaga |
| Kam Jones |
Marquette |
| Ryan Kalkbrenner |
Creighton |
| Tyler Kolek |
Marquette |
| Aidan Mahaney |
St. Mary's |
| Kevin McCullar Jr. |
Kansas |
| Judah Mintz |
Syracuse |
| Justin Moore |
Villanova |
| Ryan Nembhard |
Gonzaga |
| Tristen Newton |
Connecticut |
| Norchad Omier |
Miami, FL |
| Nijel Pack |
Miami, FL |
| Tyrese Proctor |
Duke |
| Jeremy Roach |
Duke |
| Baylor Scheierman |
Creighton |
| Terrence Shannon Jr. |
Illinois |
| Jamal Shead |
Houston |
| Tolu Smith |
Mississippi State |
| Joel Soriano |
St. John's |
| Isaiah Stevens |
Colorado State |
| Wade Taylor IV |
Texas A&M |
| Santiago Vescovi |
Tennessee |
| Tyson Walker |
Michigan State |
| Ja'Kobe Walter |
Baylor |
| Jahmir Young |
Maryland |
