LOS ANGELES, Calif. (1/28/04) - Saint Joseph's point guard
Jameer Nelson is one of 30 players named to the Midseason List for the 2003-04 John R. Wooden Award.
The Midseason list includes 2003 Wooden Award All-American Emeka Okafor (Connecticut) along with Nelson and Chris Duhon (Duke) who were also mentioned in the running for last year's Wooden Award. Connecticut leads the way as the only team with two nominated players in Okafor and guard Ben Gordon. Nine players that were not Wooden Award Preseason Candidates were added to the list including two freshmen: Minnesota's Kris Humphries and Wake Forest's Chris Paul.
Ten NCAA conferences are represented on the list, including the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, Big East, Atlantic 10, SEC, Conference USA, Mountain West Conference and the West Coast Conference. The best-represented conferences include the Big East, which boasts six players on the list, and the ACC with five players, followed by the Pac-10 and SEC with four candidates each.
"The Midseason Selection Committee had a tough chore in narrowing the list to 30 players because there have been so many stellar teams and individual performers thus far," said Duke Llewellyn, Wooden Award chairman. "We anticipate an exciting finish to the season that will help us determine the elite candidates from this year's group of outstanding college players."
The Committee bases the Midseason Top 30 on individual player performance and team records through the early part of the season. Players who do not make the list are still eligible for consideration for the Wooden Award. After each school accredits their respective athlete(s) and ensures they meet the academic requirements, the Committee will pare the list down to a ballot consisting of approximately 20 players. The official ballot will be released in early March.
The 2004 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Team, the inaugural Women's Wooden Award and the presentation of the Legends of Coaching Award, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday, April 10, 2004 and will be broadcast live on a CBS telecast. The All-American Team will be announced on March 30, 2003 and the top five candidates will be invited to Los Angeles for the Awards ceremony. Each finalist will receive a contribution from the John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund in their name to their university's general scholarship fund.
The John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund was established by Applied Materials through the California Community Foundation to honor Coach Wooden's dedication as a teacher and educator. Applied Materials distributed $15,000 last year to each university represented by a Wooden Award All-American Team finalist (Kansas, Marquette, Oklahoma, Texas and Xavier) for a total of $75,000. Additional donations to Applied Materials' John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund can be made by contacting the scholarship fund through the CCF (www.calfund.org).
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.00 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan ('84), Larry Bird ('79), Tim Duncan ('97) and last year's recipient, T.J. Ford ('03).
For the complete list of nominees, go to www.woodenaward.com.
