Baxter And Dixon Named As Top Candidates For Wooden Award
1/9/2002 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2002
LOS ANGELES - As the cream has started to rise to the top, the Wooden Award Committee has trimmed the list of top candidates for the John R. Wooden Award down to 30.
The remaining list includes 2001 Wooden Award All-Americans, Jason Williams (Duke), Tayshaun Prince (Kentucky), Frank Williams (Illinois) and Casey Jacobsen (Stanford). Nine NCAA conferences are represented, including the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, Big East, Atlantic 10, SEC, WAC and WCC. Duke leads the way with three nominees (Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer). Iowa (Luke Recker, Reggie Evans), Maryland (Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter), Florida (Udonis Haslem, Matt Bonner) and Kansas (Drew Gooden, Nick Collison) each have two.
Florida's Matt Bonner was the lone player on the top 30 list who was not a Wooden Award Preseason All-American. Bonner, a junior forward, leads his #2 ranked Gators in scoring and three-point accuracy.
The Committee bases the midseason top 30 on individual player performance and team records through the early part of the season. Players who do not make the list are still eligible for consideration for the Wooden Award. In early February, near the end of conference play, a list of additional candidates is sent to the Wooden Award's National Advisory Board. The board combines the two lists and, after each school accredits their respective athlete(s) and ensures they meet the academic requirements, pares them down to a ballot consisting of 15-20 players. The official ballot will be released on February 28, 2002.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, and Shane Battier.
The 2002 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American team, will be held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Sunday, April 7th and will be televised live nationally on Fox Sports Net for the fifth straight year.
