The Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list was revealed Monday night, featuring reigning award winner Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky and Zach Edey, the dominant center for No. 1 Purdue.
The award is given to the best college basketball player in the country each season. Tshiebwe won it last spring after averaging 17.4 points and 15.2 rebounds per game for the Wildcats in 2021-22.
This year, Tshiebwe is again averaging a double-double per game, with 16.6 points and a Division I-best 13.7 rebounds. He also is contributing 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals and one block per game.
Edey, meanwhile, might be considered the front-runner this time around. He ranks third in Division I in scoring (22.1 points per game), second in rebounding (13 per game), second in double-doubles (17) and tied for 17th in blocks (2.17 per game).
The 7-foot-4 center has notched five 30-point games this season, including three in January alone. He set career highs in scoring against Michigan State twice — putting up 32 points against the Spartans on Jan. 16 and 38 on Sunday.
The Wooden list also includes Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis, who leads the country with an average of 26 points per game and broke the NCAA record for career 3-pointers earlier this month. Davis also moved into second in the D-I men’s basketball scoring list, trailing only Pete Maravich in career points.
Only two freshmen made the list, No. 4 Alabama’s Brandon Miller and Duke’s Kyle Filipowski. And only one program could boast having two players represented: No. 7 Kansas State, which placed both guard Markquis Nowell and forward Keyontae Johnson on the list.
The full list of 20 players is below:
Armando Bacot, F/C, North Carolina
Antoine Davis, G, Detroit Mercy
Kendric Davis, G, Memphis
Zach Edey, C, Purdue
Kyle Filipowski, C, Duke
Trayce Jackson-Davis, F, Indiana
Jaime Jaquez Jr., G/F, UCLA
Keyontae Johnson, F, Kansas State
Mike Miles Jr., G, TCU
Brandon Miller, F, Alabama
Kris Murray, F, Iowa
Markquis Nowell, G, Kansas State
Jalen Pickett, G, Penn State
Marcus Sasser, G, Houston
Terquavion Smith, G, North Carolina State
Drew Timme, F, Gonzaga
Oscar Tshiebwe, F, Kentucky
Azuolas Tubelis, F, Arizona
Jalen Wilson, F, Kansas
Isaiah Wong, G, Miami
–Field Level Media