The Los Angeles Athletic Club has announced its Preseason Top 50 and the Big 12 is well-represented. The Big 12 has 10 student-athletes on the preseason listing, more than any conference in the nation. The total is the most despite having the fewest schools overall among its peer conferences.
Seven freshmen were named to the team and three were from the Big 12 - Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre, Jr. of Kansas and Myles Turner of Texas. The Jayhawks were tied for the national lead (Kentucky) with four players on the list – Cliff Alexander, Perry Ellis, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Wayne Selden. Texas, represented by Turner and guard Isaiah Taylor, was one of eight schools with multiple players included.
In terms of conferences, the Big 12 leads the way with its 10 picks, followed by the ACC (8), Big Ten (7), Pac-12 (7) and SEC (7). Three former Big 12 players have won the Wooden Award since the league began play in 1996-97 - Blake Griffin of Oklahoma (2008-09) and Kevin Durant (2006-07) and T.J. Ford (2002-03) of Texas.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2015 John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's. 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-America Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament.
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-America Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award. The event will take place the weekend of April 10-12, 2015.
Big 12 Representatives on John R. Wood Preseason Top 50
Cliff Alexander, Kansas
Perry Ellis, Kansas
Marcus Foster, Kansas State
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Kelly Oubre, Kansas
Wayne Selden, Kansas
Juwan Staten, West Virginia
Isaiah Taylor, Texas
Myles Turner, Texas