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EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1 AT 12:30PM EST

Contact: Brian Takao John R. Wooden Award (213) 630-5231 [email protected] John R. Wooden Award Presented By Wendy’s Announces 2020-21 Preseason Top 50 Watch List

2020 Wooden Award All American Headlines Wooden Watch

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (December 1, 2020) – The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® announced its Preseason Top 50 Watch List today on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.

Several schools boast multiple players on the list: Baylor ( and MaCio Teague), Duke (Matthew Hurt and Jalen Johnson), Gonzaga ( and ), Illinois ( and ), Iowa (Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp), Kentucky (Brandon Boston Jr. and Olivier Sarr), LSU (Javonte Smart and Trendon Watford), Stanford (Oscar da Silva and Ziaire Williams), Tennessee (John Fulkerson and Yves Pons), Villanova (Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl), and Virginia (Kihei Clark and Sam Hauser) each have two selections on the Preseason Top 50.

Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 32 are upperclassmen, including 20 seniors. The recent trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with seven named to the list: Scottie Barnes (Florida State), Boston Jr. (Kentucky), Greg Brown (Texas), (Oklahoma State), Johnson (Duke), (USC), Williams (Stanford).

The Preseason Top 50 represents 11 conferences. The Big Ten leads all conferences with ten selections, followed by the ACC and SEC with seven apiece, the Big 12 and PAC-12 with 6 each, the Big East with four, the Atlantic 10 and WCC with three apiece, the American with two selections, and the Mountain West and Conference USA with one selection each.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2021 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2021 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s following the NCAA Tournament in April.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), Breanna Stewart (’15 and ’16) and last year’s recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and of Dayton.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. 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 brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.

For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.

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John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s Preseason Top 50

Name School Conference Height Class Position Scottie Barnes Florida State ACC 6-9 Fr. G Charles Bassey Western Kentucky Conference USA 6-11 Jr. C Brandon Boston Jr. Kentucky SEC 6-7 Fr. G James Bouknight Connecticut Big East 6-5 So. G Garrison Brooks North Carolina ACC 6-10 Sr. F Greg Brown Texas Big 12 6-9 Fr. F Jared Butler Baylor Big 12 6-3 Jr. G Marcus Carr Minnesota Big Ten 6-2 Jr. G Kihei Clark Virginia ACC 5-9 Jr. G Kofi Cockburn Illinois Big Ten 7-0 So. C Jalen Crutcher Dayton Atlantic 10 6-1 Sr. G Cade Cunningham Oklahoma State Big 12 6-8 Fr. G Oscar da Silva Stanford PAC-12 6-9 Sr. F Ayo Dosunmu Illinois Big Ten 6-5 Jr. G John Fulkerson Tennessee SEC 6-9 Sr. F Marcus Garrett Kansas Big 12 6-5 Sr. G Luka Garza* Iowa Big Ten 6-11 Sr. C Collin Gillespie Villanova Big East 6-3 Sr. G Kellan Grady Davidson Atlantic 10 6-5 Sr. G Ron Harper Jr. Rutgers Big Ten 6-6 Jr. G/F Sam Hauser Virginia ACC 6-8 Sr. F Joey Hauser Michigan State Big Ten 6-9 Jr. F Matthew Hurt Duke ACC 6-9 So. F Trayce Jackson-Davis Indiana Big Ten 6-9 So. F David Johnson Louisville ACC 6-5 So. G Jalen Johnson Duke ACC 6-9 Fr. F Keyontae Johnson Florida SEC 6-5 Jr. F Corey Kispert Gonzaga WCC 6-7 Sr. F Isaiah Livers Michigan Big Ten 6-7 Sr. F Remy Martin Arizona State PAC-12 6-0 Sr. G Caleb Mills Houston American 6-3 So. G Evan Mobley USC PAC-12 7-0 Fr. F Landers Nolley II Memphis American 6-7 So. G Yves Pons Tennessee SEC 6-6 Sr. G/F Neemias Queta Utah State Mountain West 7-0 Jr. C Nate Reuvers Wisconsin Big Ten 6-11 Sr. F Jeremiah Robinson-Earl Villanova Big East 6-9 So. F Colbey Ross Pepperdine WCC 6-1 Sr. G Fatts Russell Rhode Island Atlantic 10 5-10 Sr. G Olivier Sarr Kentucky SEC 7-0 Sr. F Javonte Smart LSU SEC 6-4 Jr. G Chris Smith UCLA PAC-12 6-9 Sr. G MaCio Teague Baylor Big 12 6-4 Sr. G Drew Timme Gonzaga WCC 6-10 So. F Oscar Tshiebwe West Virginia Big 12 6-9 So. F Trendon Watford LSU SEC 6-9 So. F Joe Wieskamp Iowa Big Ten 6-6 Jr. G/F Ziaire Williams Stanford PAC-12 6-8 Fr. F McKinley Wright IV Colorado PAC-12 6-0 Sr. G Marcus Zegarowski Creighton Big East 6-2 Jr. G

* indicates player selected as a 2019-20 Wooden Award All American