Juniors Georges Niang (Iowa State) and Buddy Hield (Oklahoma) are two of 15 players on the final ballot of the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s. The players selected are frontrunners for one of college basketball’s most prestigious honor. All balloted players have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA.

Hield has scored at least 20 points in eight of 17 games in Big 12 play, including each of the last two contests.  In conference action, the junior guard is averaging a league-high of 18.5 points and also ranks sixth in steals (1.5 spg), seventh in free throw percentage (.806) and 10th in field goal percentage (.449), 3-point field goal percentage (.388) and rebounding (5.7 rpg).  Niang has scored in double digits in four straight outings and leads the Cyclone with 15.1 points per game, a total that ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring. 

Voting begins March 16. Voters, consisting of nearly 1,000 members of the national college basketball media, may take into consideration the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Voting ends March 23.

Fans may vote through the fan voting site sponsored by Wendy's: woodenawardvote.com. The Wooden Award All-America Team, consisting of the nation's top 10 players, will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament and will be the focus of a 30-minute show on ESPNU on Monday, March 30 (7 p.m. CDT) that will announce the Wooden All-America Team and the five Wooden Award finalists.

2015 JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD BALLOT

Ron Baker, Wichita State
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
Rakeem Christmas, Syracuse
Jerian Grant, Notre Dame
Tyler Haws, BYU
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Jahlil Okafor, Duke
Bobby Portis, Arkansas
D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State
Seth Tuttle, Northern Iowa
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
Delon Wright, Utah