Wooden Candidate Collison

2008-09 JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESEASON
TOP 50 CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED TODAY

'08 Winner Hansbrough; All-Americans Curry, Harangody Among the Candidates

Los Angeles (November 7, 2008) -- The 2008-09 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy were announced today by Richard "Duke" Llewellyn, Wooden Award Chairman and founder. The list is composed of 50 student athletes who, based on last year's individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.

Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, last year's Wooden Award winner, returns to Chapel Hill for his final collegiate season and has a chance to become only the second repeat men's Wooden Award winner. Ralph Sampson of Virginia won the Award twice, in 1982 and 1983. Other returning Wooden All-Americans include Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody and Davidson guard Stephen Curry.

Hansbrough led the ACC in scoring at 22.6 ppg as a junior, while shooting an impressive 54% from the field and 80.6% from the free throw line. Known to Tarheel fans as "Psycho T," Hansbrough was the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the year in leading UNC to a school-record 36 wins and its 17th Final Four. In putting Davidson front and center on the national scene, Curry averaged more than 25 ppg as a junior and set an NCAA record with 162 three-pointers on the season. Harangody averaged better than 20 points and 10 rebounds a year ago for the Irish.

Returning players from last year's Wooden Award ballot, in addition to the three All-Americans above, include UCLA's Darren Collison, Connecticut's A.J. Price, Tennessee's Tyler Smith and Robbie Hummel of Purdue.

Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the preseason list. These players and others who excel throughout the season will be evaluated and considered for January's Midseason list and the official voting ballot released in March.

North Carolina (Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson) had three players on the list. Six schools placed two players on the list: Louisville (Earl Clark, Terrence Williams), Duke (Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson), Marquette (Jerel McNeal, Dominic James), Pittsburgh (DeJuan Blair, Sam Young), Connecticut (Price, Hasheem Thabeet), and Texas (Damion James, A.J. Abrams).

In all, 42 schools and 13 conferences are represented on the Wooden Award Pre-Season list. Leading the way is the Big East (12), followed by the ACC (8), Pac-10 (5), SEC (5), Big 12 (5), Atlantic-10 (2), Big Ten (3), Conference USA (3), Mountain West (2), West Coast (2), Colonial Athletic Association (1), Ohio Valley (1), and the Southern Conference (1)
In mid-January, the Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed in March by the National Ballot, consisting of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round during the NCAA Tournament.

The 33rd annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award to Rick Barnes from The University of Texas, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club in April, 2009.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), and 2007 recipient Kevin Durant of Texas. Candace Parker of Tennessee won the Women's Wooden Award in 2007 and 2008.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the All-American recipients as well as sent over 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the awards name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All-Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on the Friday prior to the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

The Race for the Wooden Award is on! Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WOODENAWARD.com.