LOS ANGELES, Calif. (February 11, 2025) – The Los Angeles Athletic Club’s John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, announced its 2024-25 Men’s Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List today on www.WoodenAward.com.
Selected by a panel of national college basketball experts, the list comprises 20 student-athletes who are frontrunners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball: the Wooden Award All-American Team and the Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player.
Previous Wooden Award® All-American Hunter Dickinson (Kansas 2024 & Michigan 2021) continues to lead the list. Rutgers has two players represented on the Wooden Award® Late Midseason List.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2025 John R. Wooden Award® Men’s Player of the Year. Players not selected for the late midseason list remain eligible for inclusion on the Wooden Award® National Ballot. The National Ballot will feature 15 top players who have demonstrated to their universities that they meet or exceed the Wooden Award® qualifications.
Wooden Award® will be invited to rank 10 of the 15 players on the ballot in order of preference when voting opens during the NCAA Tournament.
Voters will also consider performances in the tournament’s early rounds, players’ contributions to their teams and their character. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced during the week of the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.
The winners and the All Americans of the 2025 John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, will be honored at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, April 11, 2025.
About the John R. Wooden Award®
Created in 1976, the Los Angeles Athletic Club John R. Wooden Award Program™ represents the pinnacle of honors in college basketball. It recognizes the Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player for both men and women, the Wooden Award All-America™ Teams for both men and women, and annually selects the Wooden Award® Legend of Coaching recipient.
Wooden Award® All-Americans have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the standards of the John R. Wooden Award®, as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award® Steering Committee. These qualifications include progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA.
Previous recipients include legends such as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07, ’08), Maya Moore (’09, ’11), Breanna Stewart (’15, ’16), and the most recent winners, Caitlin Clark of Iowa (’23, ’24) and Zach Edey of Purdue (’23, ’24).
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award® has contributed nearly one million dollars in charitable gifts in the names of its All-American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Wooden Award All-Americans are invited to celebrate their personal charitable efforts, for which the John R. Wooden Award Foundation will make charitable gifts in support of the character of the student. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award® partners annually with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) to host the Wooden Award® Special Olympics Basketball Day. This event unites Special Olympics athletes with Wooden Award® All-Americans and coaches during Wooden Award® Weekend at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
The 2025 Wooden Award® Legends of Coaching honoree is Mark Few of Gonzaga, who will receive his award alongside the 2025 Wooden Award® Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year on April 11, 2025.
Nominees (Alphabetical)
Airious “Ace” Bailey | Rutgers Johni Broome | Auburn Walter Clayton Jr. | Florida Hunter Dickinson | Kansas Eric Dixon | Villanova Cooper Flagg | Duke Keshon Gilbert | Iowa St PJ Haggerty | Memphis Dylan Harper | Rutgers Kasparas Jakučionis | Illinois Curtis Jones | Iowa State Kam Jones | Marquette Ryan Kalkbrenner | Creighton Alex Karaban | UConn Chaz Lanier | Tennessee Ryan Nembhard | Gonzaga Maxime Raynaud | Stanford Mark Sears | Alabama Javon Small | West Virginia Braden Smith | Purdue
