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Jeff Borzello
Duke‘s Cooper Flagg and Auburn‘s Johni Broome headlined the men’s Wooden Award late midseason top-20 list announced Tuesday night.
The award is given annually to the best college basketball player in the country.
Flagg and Broome have been the perceived favorites for the Wooden Award for most of the past three months. Broome started the season with a dominant nonconference performance before Flagg made up ground with a stellar open to ACC play as an injury kept Broome out for two games.
Flagg, the Duke freshman and overwhelming favorite to be the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft, is averaging 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He has been even better in conference play, putting up 21.9 points on 53.1% shooting from the field and 46% shooting from 3-point range. The 6-foot-9 Flagg set an ACC freshman record with 42 points against Notre Dame in January, and has led Duke to the top of the ACC standings with a clear path to a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament.
Broome, a third-team All-American and first-team All-SEC performer last season, looked like the clear front-runner for the award through the first two months of 2024-25. He then suffered an ankle sprain in mid-January against South Carolina, but was able to return after just two games on the sideline, and has been just as dominant as he was before the injury. Broome is averaging 18.1 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists — all career highs — and has Auburn ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll.
Although Flagg and Broome are the leaders entering the final month of the regular season, there are other viable candidates looking to close the gap. Purdue‘s Braden Smith has enjoyed a breakout campaign after two-time Wooden Award winner Zach Edey’s departure last spring, averaging 16.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 2.6 steals while leading the Boilermakers in their quest for a third straight Big Ten regular-season title and 1-seed in the NCAA tournament. Marquette‘s Kam Jones had an incredible start to the season, and though he slowed down in January, the 6-5 senior is still putting up 19.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists.
Two teams have multiple players on the list: Rutgers, with Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, and Iowa State, represented by Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones.
Jones and West Virginia guard Javon Small are the two players on the late midseason top 20 who weren’t on the midseason top-25 list.
The men’s Wooden Award has been given out every year since 1977, starting with UCLA star Marques Johnson.
The complete Wooden Award late midseason top 20:
Ace Bailey, Rutgers
Johni Broome, Auburn
Cooper Flagg, Duke
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
Dylan Harper, Rutgers
Curtis Jones, Iowa State
Kam Jones, Marquette
Javon Small, West Virginia
Braden Smith, Purdue
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