The 15 finalists for this year's Wooden Award has been bared, with three freshmen stars and a senior who just became part of college basketball's 3,000-point club leading the way.
ESPN.com is reporting that Creighton high scoring senior Doug McDermott, who on Saturday joined the exclusive 3,000-point club, will be up against three celebrated freshmen --- Julius Randle of Kentucky, Andrew Wiggins of Kansa and Jabari Parker of Duke for college basketball's top individual prize.
Other contenders are Gary Harris of Michigan State, Nik Stauskas of Michigan, Tyler Ennis and C.J. Fair of Syracuse, and Nick Johnson of Arizona. Also named as finalists were Russ Smith of Louisville, Sean Kilpatrick of Cincinnati, Shabazz Napier of UConn, Cleanthony Early of Wichita State, Casey Prather of Florida and Kyle Anderson of UCLA.
Conspicuously absent from the list is Kansas star freshman Joel Embiid. The projected number one pick in next summer's NBA Draft, Embiid has had some injuries that affected his playing time in the final months of the season.
Other notable omissions are DeAndre Kane of Iowa State, Xavier Thames of San Diego State, and Fred Van Vleet of Wichita State.
McDermott is considered the front runner for the award with averages of nearly 26 points and seven caroms a game. The freshmen stars have a solid shot of winning as well. Parker is one of the favorites to win the award as he leads the Blue Devils in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 18.8 points and nine rebounds per outing. Wiggins is also a legit contender with average of 16 points and six rebounds a game.
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