KU Men’s Basketball Trio Named to the Wooden Award Preseason Watch List
LOS ANGELES – Kansas freshmen Joel Embiid, Wayne Selden, Jr., and Andrew Wiggins have been named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday.
Kansas was one of three schools to place three players on 50-member list, which was chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts projecting the early front-runners for the Wooden Award. Duke and Michigan State also had three players make the list, while Kentucky leads all schools with four on the list.
Embiid is receiving his second preseason accolade of 2013-14. The 7-0, Yaoundé, Cameroon, center was also named Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention by the conference coaches. Embiid, who started playing basketball at the age of 16, was a five-star recruit out of The Rock School in Gainesville, Fla. He was ranked No. 6 on the ESPN 100 and classified as the country’s best incoming center. Embiid averaged 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots in 2012-13 at The Rock School (Fla.).
On Nov. 4, Selden and Wiggins were named to the 10-man Wayman Tisdale Award Preseason Watch List, which is presented to the national freshman of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers of America (USBWA). Selden was a 2013 McDonald’s All-American who averaged 24.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists last year at the Tilton School in New Hampshire. The Roxbury, Mass., native ended his senior year ranked No. 12 by Rivals.com and No. 14 by ESPN100.
The No. 1 recruit in the class of 2013, Wiggins averaged 23.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocked shots and 2.5 steals while at Huntington Prep in West Virginia last season. The Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, native was the Gatorade Boys High School Basketball Player of the Year and later the Gatorade Boys Athlete of the Year. Wiggins is a consensus preseason All-America selection, on the Oscar Robertson Watch List for national player of the year by the USBWA and was named the Preseason National Player of the Year by CBSSports.com.
The players on the Wooden list are considered strong candidates for the midseason list and the official voting ballot, which will consist of approximately 20-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. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.
Last year KU’s Ben McLemore was named to the John R. Wooden All-American team.
For a complete list of the John R. Wooden Award Preseason list go to WoodenAward.com.
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