Men's Basketball: Pittsnogle Makes Wooden List
August 09, 2005 01:20 PM | General
August 9, 2005
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| Pittsnogle |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University senior center Kevin Pittsnogle was one of 50 preseason candidates for the John Wooden Award as college basketball’s top player, it was announced today.
The candidates were selected from among a large pool of student-athletes and the selections were based last year’s performance and team records.
These top 50 candidates are comprised of returning players, although transfers, freshmen and other players who excel throughout the season could be added for both the midseason top 30 list and the final national ballot.
“With so many players jumping to the next level and so many standout athletes from last year, the committee had a tough time nominating these candidates from such a wide selection of tremendous players, said Duke Llewellyn, Wooden Award chairman. “These preseason selections represent the elite of college basketball, and our entire team at the Wooden Award are excited to see the best players in the nation prove their case as college basketball’s player of the year.”
Pittsnogle made a name for himself during West Virginia’s NCAA tournament run that nearly reached the Final Four. The 6-foot-11-inch Martinsburg, W.Va., resident averaged better than 17 points per game over his final 16 contests including 20 points or more six times. He finished the season averaging 11.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 42.6 percent from three-point range.
The senior has already reached the 1,000-point mark for his career and has a realistic shot of reaching 1,500 by the end of his senior season.
The Wooden Award was created in 1976 in honor of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden and is considered the most prestigious individual honor given in college basketball. The list of previous winners includes Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan and last year’s recipient Andrew Bogut.
Eleven conferences are represented among this year’s pool and are broken down this way: Big East Conference (nine); ACC (eight); Pac-10 (seven); Big Ten and Big 12 (six); Atlantic 10 and SEC (four); Conference USA and Western Athletic (two); West Coast and Missouri Valley Conference (one).
