Preseason Wooden Award Watch List Unveiled

The official Wooden Award preseason watch list hasn’t been released yet, but that didn’t stop ESPN’s Andy Katz from using his Ben Gates skills to obtain the names of the 50 players honored.

They are (in alphabetical order):

Tim Abromaitis, 6-8, Sr., F, Notre Dame
Harrison Barnes, 6-8, So., F, UNC
Will Barton, 6-6, So., G, Memphis
Dee Bost, 6-2, Sr., G, Mississippi State
William Buford, 6-5, Sr., G, Ohio State
Allen Crabbe, 6-6, So., G, California
Aaron Craft, 6-2, So., G, Ohio State
Marcus Denmon, 6-3, Sr., G, Missouri
Festus Ezeli, 6-11, Sr., C, Vanderbilt
Ashton Gibbs, 6-2, Sr., G, Pittsbugh
Michael Glover, 6-7, Sr., F, Iona
Drew Gordon, 6-9, Sr., F, New Mexico
Draymond Green, 6-7, Sr., F, Michigan State
JaMychal Green, 6-8, Sr., F, Alabama
Jorge Gutierrez, 6-3, Sr., G, California
Tim Hardaway, Jr., 6-5, So., G, Michigan
Elias Harris, 6-7, Jr., F, Gonzaga
John Henson, 6-11, Jr., F, North Carolina
Tu Holloway, 6-0, Sr., G, Xavier
Robbie Hummel, 6-8, Sr., F, Purdue
Joe Jackson, 6-1, So., G, Memphis
Scoop Jardine, 6-2, Sr., G, Syracuse
John Jenkins, 6-3, Jr., G, Vanderbilt
Orlando Johnson, 6-5, Sr., G, UC Santa Barbara
Darius Johnson-Odom, 6-2, Sr., G, Marquette
Kevin Jones, 6-8, Sr., F, West Virginia
Terrence Jones, 6-8, So., F, Kentucky
Perry Jones III, 6-11, So., F, Baylor
Kris Joseph, 6-7, Sr., F, Syracuse
Jeremy Lamb, 6-5, So., G, Connecticut
Kendall Marshall, 6-4, So., G, North Carolina
Trevor Mbakwe, 6-8, Sr., F, Minnesota
Ray McCallum, 6-1, So., G, Detroit
Doug McDermott, 6-7, So., F, Creighton
Khris Middleton, 6-7, Jr., F, Texas A&M
Reeves Nelson, 6-8, Jr., F, UCLA
Andrew Nicholson, 6-9, Sr., F, St. Bonaventure
Alex Oriakhi, 6-9, Jr., C, Connecticut
Thomas Robinson, 6-9, Jr., F, Kansas
John Shurna, 6-9, Sr., F, Northwestern
Peyton Siva, 6-0, Jr., G, Louisville
Joshua Smith, 6-10, So., C, UCLA
Jared Sullinger, 6-9, So., C, Ohio State
Jeffery Taylor, 6-7, Sr., G/F, Vanderbilt
Jordan Taylor, 6-1, Sr., G, Wisconsin
Casper Ware, 5-10, Sr., G, Long Beach State
Maalik Wayns, 6-2, Jr., G, Villanova
Keith Wright, 6-8, Sr., F, Harvard
Patric Young, 6-9, So., F/C, Florida
Tyler Zeller, 7-0, Sr., F, North Carolina

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that 38 of the 50 players come from teams that play in one of the six BCS conferences, and five of the other 12 players come from the not-exactly-mid-major quartet of Memphis, Xavier, Gonzaga and New Mexico.

Players with a legit beef over not seeing their name on the list include Seth Curry (Duke), Doron Lamb (Kentucky), Kevin Foster (Santa Clara), Yancy Gates (Cincinnati), Matthew Dellavedova (Saint Mary’s), and the nation’s leading returning scorer, C.J. McCollum (Lehigh).

Of course all of this is essentially meaningless since appearing on the preseason list is not a prerequisite for actually winning the award, but whatever, it’s early October and practice hasn’t even started yet. Let’s discuss this without break for two or three days.