Graham named to Wooden Midseason Top 25 list
LOS ANGELES – Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has been named to the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s Midseason Top 25 list, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Thursday. Last season, KU’s Frank Mason III won the 2017 Wooden Award.
The 2017-18 Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, Graham is having a solid season for No. 12/12 Kansas (13-3, 3-1 Big 12). The Raleigh, North Carolina, native is the only player in NCAA Division I to average 18.0 or more points, 7.0 or more assists, 2.0 or more steals and 2.5 or fewer turnovers per game. Additionally, Graham is the only player in the Big 12 to rank in the top five in scoring, free throw percentage, assists, steals, 3-point field goals made and assist-to-turnover ratio. Graham is second in the Big 12 with an 18.1 scoring average, third in free throw percentage (87.8), third in assists (7.5), tied for fourth in steals (2.0), fifth in 3-point field goals made (3.2) and first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9.
Graham has two double-doubles this season and five games of 20 more points. Included were back-to-back 35-point efforts against Toledo (11/28) and Syracuse (12/2), which earned him Big 12 and national player of the week honors.
Graham is quickly moving up the school’s all-time career lists. He currently sits 29th with 1,365 points on the KU scoring list. Last game, he moved into third all-time on the KU 3-point field goal list, currently at 237. His 570 3-point attempts are fourth on the KU career list and his 3-point field goal percentage (41.6, 237-570) is ninth. Graham has 470 career assists, which is 13th on the KU career list and his 167 steals are also 13th on the KU career list. Last game, he passed former teammate and his former teammate, Mason, who had 165 from 2014-17.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2018 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s. The leading candidates will be further pared to 20 top players 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 submitted to voters on the Final Ballot prior to the NCAA Tournament. Every year, players have made the Final Ballot that were not on the preseason or midseason lists. Voters are permitted to take into consideration the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament when casting the ballot. The ten-man Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2018 John R. Wooden Award will be presented during the ESPN College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s on Friday, April 6, 2018.
John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s
2017-18 Midseason Top 25
| Name | School | Conference | Height | Class | Position |
| Grayson Allen | Duke | ACC | 6-5 | Sr. | G |
| Deandre Ayton | Arizona | Pac-12 | 7-1 | Fr. | F |
| Marvin Bagley III | Duke | ACC | 6-11 | Fr. | F |
| Mohamed Bamba | Texas | Big 12 | 6-11 | Fr. | F |
| Joel Berry II | North Carolina | ACC | 6-0 | Sr. | G |
| Trevon Bluiett | Xavier | Big East | 6-6 | Sr. | G |
| Mikal Bridges | Villanova | Big East | 6-7 | Jr. | G/F |
| Miles Bridges | Michigan State | Big Ten | 6-7 | So. | G/F |
| Jalen Brunson | Villanova | Big East | 6-3 | Jr. | G |
| Jevon Carter | West Virginia | Big 12 | 6-2 | Sr. | G |
| Bonzie Colson | Notre Dame | ACC | 6-6 | Sr. | F |
| Angel Delgado | Seton Hall | Big East | 6-10 | Sr. | C |
| Marcus Foster | Creighton | Big East | 6-3 | Sr. | G |
| Devonte’ Graham | Kansas | Big 12 | 6-2 | Sr. | G |
| Tra Holder | Arizona State | Pac-12 | 6-1 | Sr. | G |
| Aaron Holiday | UCLA | Pac-12 | 6-1 | Jr. | G |
| Jock Landale | Saint Mary’s | WCC | 6-11 | Sr. | C |
| Yante Maten | Georgia | SEC | 6-8 | Sr. | F |
| Luke Maye | North Carolina | ACC | 6-8 | Jr. | F |
| Brandon McCoy | UNLV | Mountain West | 7-0 | Fr. | F |
| Jordan Murphy | Minnesota | Big Ten | 6-6 | Jr. | F |
| Collin Sexton | Alabama | SEC | 6-3 | Fr. | G |
| Landry Shamet | Wichita State | The American | 6-4 | So. | G |
| Allonzo Trier | Arizona | Pac-12 | 6-5 | Jr. | G |
| Trae Young | Oklahoma | Big 12 | 6-2 | Fr. | G |
John R Wooden Award
http://www.woodenaward.com/
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