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Wooden Award Midseason Top 25

By Andrew Kahn

The watch list for the Wooden Award, the most prestigious of the trophies given annually to the best college basketball player, was reduced to 25 last week. Former winners include Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Durant. Creighton’s Doug McDermott, a senior, won last year, but a freshman looks to have the edge right now.

Duke’s Jahlil Okafor is the midseason favorite. The center is averaging 18.6 points and 8.9 rebounds while shooting 67 percent from the field. He played well even during Duke’s two-game skid earlier this month. His main challenger right now is Wisconsin senior center Frank Kaminsky, whose impressive stats have only improved from his breakout junior season. The competing big men have similar offensive efficiency numbers playing for top-ranked teams. Okafor hits the offensive glass harder; Kaminsky is a better passer and an actual threat from long range. For what it’s worth, when these two heavyweights squared off on Dec. 3 in Madison, Okafor had the slightly better performance and Duke won by 10.

Duke already has the most Wooden Award winners. Since the trophy was first handed out in 1977, the Blue Devils have had five winners. North Carolina is in second with four; BYU, St. John’s, Texas, UCLA, and Virginia have two each. This year, Virginia is represented on the midseason list by Justin Anderson, but teammates Anthony Gill and Malcolm Brogdon are just as deserving. All three are playing at a very high level on both ends of the floor for the undefeated Cavaliers.

The only other undefeated team, Kentucky, also has just one representative: Willie Cauley-Stein. It’s unlikely anyone from such a balanced team will win a major award, but Karl Anthony-Towns and other Wildcats are certainly worthy. Remember, the watch list is more for fans and media. Just because a player does not appear on the list does not mean he is out of the running for the award. Two years ago, Victor Oladipo was not on the midseason list but finished in second in the final voting. The message to Rakeem Christmas and others who felt they were snubbed: There’s still hope.

If Okafor were to win, he’d be just the third freshman to do so, joining Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant. Four other rookies are on the watch list: Okafor’s teammate Tyus Jones, Arizona’s Stanley Johnson, and D’Angelo Russell and Melo Trimble out of the Big Ten.

If the winner’s name hasn’t already been mentioned here, it will be Utah’s Delon Wright or Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer. Wright is a versatile scoring point guard. Wiltjer is a 6’10” Kentucky transfer who can score inside and out (45 percent from deep). Utah is ranked No. 13; the Zags are 18-1 and No. 3. I wouldn’t bet on it happening, but a strong second half to the season could propel either ahead of the current frontrunners.

The good news for whoever wins? Only twice has the Wooden Award recipient failed to win at least one game in the NCAA Tournament (David Robinson and Navy in 1987 and Phil Ford and UNC in 1978). It helps that, at least presently, the poll is open through the third round of the Tournament.

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Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at AndrewJKahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.

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