John Wooden Award 2014 power rankings: Week 16
The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men’s college basketball player and the winner is not announced until after the NCAA Championship Game in early April, but we can just hand out the award now, because Doug McDermott has the award on lock down.
The Creighton Bluejays small forward continues to move up the all-time scoring list and could end his career as the fifth leading scorer in NCAA history. After scoring 29 in Creighton’s 72-71 win over Seton Hall on Sunday he is now 150 points away from that mark, passing luminaries like Danny Manning and Oscar Robertson in the process.
McDermott is the nation’s leading scorer at 25.8 points per game for the No. 11 team and at 6-9 is the best shooter in the country. McDermott can play defense, he rebounds (7.1 RPG), he is money at the free-throw line and deadly behind the arc. He won’t the player drafted the highest on this list, but he’s been the most outstanding college player.
Jabari Parker looks like the one player with the best chance to win the award if it’s not McDermott as the top freshman in the country who is averaging 21.5 points and 11.2 rebounds per game since Jan. 18. If Parker can lead Duke to an ACC Tournament Championship and to the Elite 8 and McDermott and Creighton bow out early in the tourney could that lead to Parker pulling off the upset?
Only time will tell the answer to that question, but for the week of Feb. 24, they make up the top two candidates for the Wooden Award. Here’s the rest of the top 10 and I encourage you to voice your opinion in the comments section with who you think should be in the running for the award.
- McDermott-Creighton Bluejays
- Parker-Duke Blue Devils
- Sean Kilpatrick-Cincinnati Bearcats
- Shabazz Napier-Connecticut Huskies
- Russ Smith-Louisville Cardinals
- Julius Randle-Kentucky Wildcats
- Nick Johnson-Arizona Wildcats
- DeAndre Kane-Iowa State Cyclones
- Nik Stauskas-Michigan Wolverines
- Gary Harris-Michigan State Spartans
Just missed the cut: Tyler Ennis, C.J. Fair (Syracuse Orange), Cleanthony Early (Wichita State Shockers), Lamar Patterson (Pittsburgh Panthers), Cameron Bairstow (New Mexico Lobos) and Andrew Wiggins (Kansas Jayhawks).