Wells Selected to Wooden Award Preseason Top 50
11/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Los Angeles — University of Maryland senior guard/forward Dez Wells has been selected as a member of the Wooden Award Preseason Top-50, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Monday. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the sport's most prestigious honor.
Wells averaged 14.8 points per game last season to lead the Terrapins en route to earning all-conference third-team honors. The Raleigh, N.C., native also averaged 4.3 rebounds per game and shot 48 percent from the field. He began his 2014-15 campaign with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting in a win against Wagner Friday night.
The Wooden Award National Advisory Board will select 25 players for the midseason list in early January. The leading candidates will be further pared to 20 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 placed on the ballot and submitted to voters prior to the NCAA Tournament and voting will take into account play during the opening rounds of the tournament. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament.
In terms of conferences, the Big Ten has seven student-athletes selected to the watch list.
About the John R. Wooden Award
The 39th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All AmericanTeams and the Legends of Coaching Award, which in 2015 will go to San DiegoState Head Men's Basketball Coach Steve Fisher. The event will take place the weekend of April 10-12, 2015.
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 or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Candace Parker ('07 and '08), Kevin Durant ('09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut ('09 and '11). Creighton's Doug McDermott won the 2014 Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the All American recipients. The Award has also sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award's name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All-Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.
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