The 2008-09 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award were recently announced by Wooden Chairman and founder, Richard “Duke” Llewellyn, with three players from Comcast Battle in Seattle teams included in the list.
Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo along with A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet from Connecticut were among the honorees. The list includes the top 50 college basketball players, who based on last season’s individual performance and team records, are the early front runners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor.
Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, last year’s Wooden Award winner, returns for his senior season and has a chance to become the second ever repeat men’s Wooden Award winner. Ralph Sampson of Virginia won the award twice, in 1982 and 1983. Davidson guard Stephen Curry and Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody are among the other returning Wooden All-Americans.
Pargo, the reigning West Coast Conference Player of the Year, is a member of this preseason Top 50 list for the second straight year. A season ago, the Chicago native was named an All-American Honorable Mention and averaged 12.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game, leading the Bulldogs to the WCC regular-season title and a 10th straight trip to the NCAA tournament. The Zags are ranked #10 in the preseason AP poll.
Connecticut stars Price and Thabeet will lead the #2 ranked Huskies into Seattle to take on the Bulldogs. Price averaged 14.5 points and 5.8 assists per game as a junior and was also an All-American Honorable Mention. Thabeet, a seven foot three inch center from Tanzania, is the reigning NABC National Defensive Player of the Year and the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. The junior center averaged 4.5 blocks and 7.9 rebounds per game a season ago.
The Huskies are one of only seven teams with at least two players among the candidate for the award.
Hall of Fame Coach Jim Calhoun and his Huskies have been named preseason favorites to win the 2008-2009 BIG EAST regular-season title. The Bulldogs and the Huskies last met on December 1, 2007 in Boston with the Zags prevailing by the score of 85 to 82. Connecticut holds a 2-1 all-time series lead over Gonzaga.
For updated information and additional details of this event, visit the official website: www.battleinseattle.com.