LOS ANGELES – Gonzaga's
Ryan Nembhard was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List by the Los Angeles Athletic Club Tuesday.
Selected by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list comprises 25 student-athletes who are frontrunners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball: the Wooden Award All-American Team™ and the Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player.
Nembhard's 9.6 assists per game are first in the nation, after dishing out 153 assists (1st in the country) to just 38 turnovers. His 4.03 assist-to-turnover ratio is fifth in the country. He was the first player in NCAA Div. 1 to 100 assists and the fastest to 100 assists in a season in program history.
Nembhard finished with a career-high and single game tournament record 14 assists against Davidson in the Battle 4 Atlantis. He totaled 39 assists in the three-game event, setting a new tournament record, to just eight turnovers.
Nembhard is scoring 11.6 points per games, while adding 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals. The senior is second in the West Coast Conference playing 35.7 minutes per contest.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2025 John R. Wooden Award® Men's Player of the Year. Players not selected for the midseason list remain eligible for inclusion on the Wooden Award® late-season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot will feature 15 top players who have demonstrated to their universities that they meet or exceed the Wooden Award® qualifications.
Nearly 1,000 voters will be invited to rank 10 of the 15 players on the ballot in order of preference when voting opens during the NCAA Tournament. Voters will also consider performances in the tournament's early rounds, players' contributions to their teams and their character. The Wooden Award All-American Team™ will be announced during the week of the NCAA Tournament's "Elite Eight."
The winners and the All Americans of the 2025 John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, will be honored at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 11.
2024-25 Wooden Award Midseason Top 25
Airious "Ace" Bailey | Rutgers
Johni Broome | Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr. | Florida
RJ Davis | North Carolina
Hunter Dickinson | Kansas
Eric Dixon | Villanova
Jeremiah Fears | Oklahoma
Cooper Flagg | Duke
Keshon Gilbert | Iowa St
PJ Haggerty | Memphis
Dylan Harper | Rutgers
Josh Hubbard | Mississippi State
Kasparas Jakučionis | Illinois
Tre Johnson | Texas
Kam Jones | Marquette
Ryan Kalkbrenner | Creighton
Alex Karaban | UConn
Chaz Lanier | Tennessee
Ryan Nembhard | Gonzaga
Derik Queen | Maryland
Maxime Raynaud | Stanford
Mark Sears | Alabama
Braden Smith | Purdue
Wade Taylor IV | Texas A & M
Zakai Zeigler | Tennessee