Men's Basketball: Butler, Ebanks on Wooden List
August 19, 2009 02:27 PM | General
MSNsportsNET.com
August 19, 2009
LOS ANGELES - West Virginia basketball players Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks were selected as 2009-10 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy, announced today by Richard “Duke” Llewellyn, Wooden Award Chairman and founder.
The list is comprised 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.
WVU is one of nine schools that had two players chosen to the Wooden Award preseason Top 50, and all are familiar names to fans who followed college basketball a season ago. The other schools include Kansas (Collins, Cole Aldrich), Michigan State (Lucas, Raymar Morgan) Duke(Singler, Jon Scheyer), Michigan (DeShawn Sims, Manny Harris), North Carolina (Ed Davis, Deon Thompson), Purdue (Hummel, E’Twaun Moore), Connecticut (Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson) and Villanova(Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher)
Luke Harangody of Notre Dame is the only 2009 Wooden All-American returning to college basketball in 2009-10. He returns to South Bend for his final collegiate season and has a chance to become a three-time Wooden All-American. Harangody averaged better than 20 points and 10 rebounds each of the last two seasons. He ranked among the nation’s top 10 scorers (25.2)and rebounders (12.8) in 2009 and was a second team All-Big East pick.
Returning players from last year’s Wooden Award ballot, in addition to Harangody, include Sherron Collins of Kansas, Duke’s Kyle Singler and Kalin Lucas of Michigan State. Purdue’s Robbie Hummel made the Wooden ballot in 2008. Collins averaged 18.9 ppg a year ago and was a first team All-Big 12 selection. He has led the Jayhawks to regular season conference titles in each of his first three seasons in Lawrence.
Singler is Duke’s top returning scorer (16.5 ppg in 2009) and rebounder (7.7) and was a second team All-ACC pick in 2009. Lucas led the Spartans to the 2009 Final Four and was the 2009 Big 10 Player of the Year, averaging 14.7 ppg.
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 December’s Midseason list and the official voting ballot released in March.
Eleven conferences are represented on the Wooden Award Preseason List. Leading the way is the Big East (11), followed by the ACC (10), Big 10 (8), SEC (7), Big 12 (6), Pac-10 (3), and Atlantic 10, CAA, Conference USA, WAC and West Coast with one apiece.
In late December, 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 34th annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winner, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, will take place the weekend of April 9-11, 2010.
