LOS ANGELES – Gonzaga's Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard were named to the John R. Wooden Award presented by Principal Preseason Top 50 Watch List announced Thursday.
 
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.
 
Kansas leads all schools with four students on the Wooden Watch List: KJ Adams, Dickinson, Dejuan Harris, and AJ Storr. Two schools lead with three selections on the Preseason Top 50: Alabama (Grant Nelson, Cliff Omoruyi, and Mark Sears) and Baylor (VJ Edgecomb, Norchad Omier, and Jeremy Roach). Several other schools boast multiple players on the list: Connecticut (Alex Karaban and Liam McNeeley), Gonzaga (Ike and Nembhard), Houston (L.J. Cryer and J'Wan Roberts) and Rutgers (Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper).
 
Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 41 are upperclassmen, including 22 seniors & 19 juniors, and two are graduate students. Two sophomores were named to the list and the recent trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with five named to the Preseason Top 50.
 
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2025 John R. Wooden Award® Men's Player of the Year. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award® midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award®. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during Tournament 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 2025 John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, will be presented at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in April.
 
John R. Wooden Award® Men's Preseason Top 50 Alphabetical

Name	Last name	School	Year
KJ	Adams	Kansas	SR
Robbie	Avila	Saint Louis	JR
Ace	Bailey	Rutgers	FR
Ace	Baldwin	Penn State	JR
Oumar	Ballo	Indiana	Grad student
Johni	Broome	Auburn	SR
Walter	Clayton Jr.	Florida	JR
LJ	Cryer	Houston	SR
Johnell	Davis	Arkansas	SR
RJ	Davis #	North Carolina	SR
Tyson	Degenhart	Boise State	JR
Tucker	DeVries	West Virginia	SR
Hunter	Dickinson ##	Kansas	Grad student
Eric	Dixon	Villanova	SR
VJ	Edgecomb	Baylor	FR
Cooper	Flagg	Duke	FR
Dawson	Garcia	Minnesota	SR
Dylan	Harper	Rutgers	FR
Dajuan	Harris	Kansas	JR
Coleman	Hawkins	Kansas State	SR
Bryce	Hopkins	Providence	JR
Josh	Hubbard	Mississippi St.	SO
Graham	Ike	Gonzaga	SR
Kam	Jones	Marquette	SR
Ryan	Kalkbrenner	Creighton	SR
Alex	Karaban	UConn	JR
Yaxel	Lendeborg	UAB	SO
Tamin	Lipsey	Iowa State	JR
Caleb	Love #	Arizona	SR
Augustas	Marciulionis	St. Mary's	SR
Liam	McNeeley	UConn	FR
Matthew	Murrell	Ole Miss	SR
Grant	Nelson	Alabama	SR
Ryan	Nembhard	Gonzaga	JR
Norchad	Omier	Baylor	SR
Cliff	Omoruyi	Alabama	SR
Great	Osobor	Washington	JR
Tyrese	Proctor	Duke	JR
Kadary	Richmond	St. John's	SR
Jeremy	Roach	Baylor	SR
J'Wan	Roberts	Houston	SR
Jaxson	Robinson	Kentucky	JR
Hunter	Sallis	Wake Forest	JR
Payton	Sandfort	Iowa	JR
Mark	Sears	Alabama	SR
Braden	Smith	Purdue	JR
AJ	Storr	Kansas	JR
Wade	Taylor IV	Texas A&M	JR
Bruce	Thornton	Ohio State	JR
Zakai	Zeigler	Tennessee	JR

 
#   indicates player selected as a 2023-24 Wooden Award All American
## indicates player selected as a 2020-21 and 2023-24 Wooden Award All American