The 2008-09 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award were recently announced by Wooden Chairman and founder, Richard “Duke” Llewellyn, with four players from Stadium Shootout teams included in the list.
BYU’s Lee Cummard, ASU’s James Harden along with Earl Clark and Terrence Williams from Louisville 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.
Cummard, the reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, was an All-American honorable mention last season after leading the Cougars to a 27-8 overall record and their second straight outright MWC title. As a junior, the Mesa native was the only player in the MWC to rank in the top 10 in nine different statistical categories.
Just a sophomore, Harden is gaining major national publicity, having been named on numerous preseason All-American lists. A Pac-10 First Teamer a season ago, the 6’5” lefty is considered a future NBA lottery pick and difference maker for the #15 ranked Sun Devils.
University of Louisville forwards Earl Clark and Terrence Williams made the #3 ranked Cardinals one of only seven teams with at least two players nominated for the award. The two players were among the 12 Big East players named to the preseason watch list.
Clark is coming off a stellar sophomore season in which he led the Cardinals with 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots and added 11.1 points per game. Williams, a two-time All-Big East Conference selection also averaged 11.1 points per game and was among the conference leaders in assists (4.5), rebounding (7.2), assist-turnover ratio (1.54) and minutes played (35.9).All four Wooden Award candidates will take the court in the inaugural basketball event at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The doubleheader is set for Saturday, December 20th with the first game tipping at noon.
The games will mark the first ever basketball event held at the renown University of Phoenix Stadium home of Super Bowl XLII. The event could set the attendance record for a basketball game in the State of Arizona and will likely be a major step in attracting the Men’s Final Four to the Grand Canyon State.
For updated information and all the details of this original event, go to the event’s official website: www.stadiumshootout.com.