Feb. 3, 2003

LOS ANGELES - As the country's best college basketball teams begin to eye the end of the season title, so do the nation's best players. Today, the Wooden Award Committee trimmed the list of top candidates for the John R. Wooden Award down to 30, including Maryland's Steve Blake.

Blake is undeniably the most experienced point guard in the country. With two trips to the Final Four and a 2002 national championship under his belt, two ACC assist titles and a career assist total that continues to climb toward the top five in ACC history, Blake's veteran status is head and shoulders above all others in the college game today.

Also a candidate for the nation's Naismith Award and the Senior CLASS Award, Blake is currently ranked 16th in NCAA history with 876 career assists. He will become just the 11th player ever to total 900 assists, and could become only the fourth to reach 1,000. While leading the Terps to a 14-4 record and first-place standing in the ACC (6-1), Blake currently averages 11.7 points, 6.9 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 steals and a 41.1 percent clip from 3-point range (37-of-90).

He needs just 11 points to become the first player in Atlantic Coast Conference history with 1,000 points (989), 800 assists (876), 400 rebounds (412) and 200 steals (214).

He is also on track to challenge or break Maryland career records for most games, most starts, most wins and most minutes of any player in Maryland history. A starter since the first game of his freshman season, Blake currently boasts 125 games and 123 starts. He has compiled 3,873 minutes (31.0 mpg) with a record of 96-29 entering Thursday's game against Virginia.

Juan Dixon, who represented the Terrapins and finished third in last season's Wooden Award balloting, boasts the Maryland records for games (141) and wins (110). Keith Booth holds the mark for most starts (126). Derrick Lewis holds the record for most minutes (4,202). Blake is on pace to break or at least challenge all four marks measuring success, longevity and durability.

Blake joins a list of 30 top Wooden candidates, from which nine NCAA conferences are represented, including the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, Big East, Atlantic 10, SEC, Conference USA and Missouri Valley Conference.

Four players that were not Wooden Award Preseason Candidates were added to the list, including freshman Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse), senior Kyle Korver (Creighton), junior Andre Emmett (Texas Tech) and freshman Bracey Wright (Indiana). Anthony and Wright will try to become the first freshmen on the Wooden Award All-American Team since Georgia Tech's Stephon Marbury in 1996.

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. After each school accredits their respective athlete(s) and ensures they meet the academic requirements, the Committee will pare down the list to a ballot consisting of 15-20 players. The official ballot will be released in early March.

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 2.00 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan and Jayson Williams.

The 2003 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American team, will be held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday, April 12th. The Top 5 candidates will be invited to Los Angeles for the ceremony and $15,000 will be contributed in their name to their university's general scholarship fund.

For the complete list of Wooden Award Top 30 Candidates, click here. Maryland fans can also vote for Steve Blake as a part of Internet balloting for the Senior CLASS Award, by clicking here.