The Los Angeles Athletic Club has announced a Late Season Top 20 list in an effort to further pare down the outstanding candidates for the 2016 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s. Three Big 12 standouts and All-America candidates are included – Georges Niang (Iowa State), Perry Ellis (Kansas) and Buddy Hield (Oklahoma).
Players not on this most recent list are still eligible for the final ballot, which will consist of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Voting begins at the end of the season, and voters, consisting of nearly 1,000 members of the national college basketball media, will take into account the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The three Big 12 players on the list ranked second among all conferences.
The 40th annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show presented by Wendy’s. The men’s and women’s John R. Wooden All-American Teams will be honored during the ceremony, as well as the 2016 Legends of Coaching Award, which will be presented to Tubby Smith, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Texas Tech. The event will take place the weekend of April 7-9, 2016.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award program features some of the most prestigious individual honors in college basketball. Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to the general scholarship fund of the honoree’s University in the name of the All-America recipient. The Award has also enabled more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long basketball camps in the Award’s name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament takes place at the Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award presentation, and brings together Special Olympics athletes and the Wooden Award All-Americans.
2016 JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD LATE SEASON LIST
Grayson Allen, Duke
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
Kris Dunn, Providence
Perry Ellis, Kansas
Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Yogi Ferrell, Indiana
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Brice Johnson, North Carolina
Damion Lee, Louisville
Nic Moore, SMU
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Gary Payton II, Oregon State
Jakob Poeltl, Utah
Ben Simmons, LSU
Melo Trimble, Maryland
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky
Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa
Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
Fred VanVleet, Wichita State
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga