Beverley Named to Wooden Award Pre-Season Top 50 Watch List

LOS ANGELES – Arkansas sophomore guard Patrick Beverley is one of 50 players across the country named to the pre-seasonJohn R. Wooden Award watch list.

The list was released byLos Angeles Athletic Club’s Wooden Award Committee. The Award is named for the three-time college basketball All-American, 1932 Player of the Year and 10-time national championship coach at UCLA.

“The committee had a tough time deciding on just 50 candidates, with so many returning talented players across the country,” said Duke Llewellyn, Wooden Award chairman. “Some teams even had several worthy candidates. Our team at the John R. Wooden Award is excited to see the best players in the nation compete against each other all season, as they vie to be named college basketball’s player of the year.”

Two returning Wooden All-Americans made the list, center Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina and Kansas guard Brandon Rush. Five schools had two players on the list: UCLA (Darren Collison, Josh Shipp), North Carolina (Hansbrough, Ty Lawson), Kansas (Mario Chalmers, Rush), Washington State (Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver), Georgetown (Roy Hibbert, Johnathan Wallace). More than 100 players received at least one vote.

Hansbrough averages 18.6 points per game for his career and reached the 1,000-point plateau as a sophomore last year. A 6-6 guard, Rush led the Jayhawks in scoring the last two seasons. Georgetown’s pair of candidates played in last year’s Final Four, as did UCLA’s duo.

After ranking among the SEC’s individual leaders in nine of 13 categories, Beverley, who is one of only nine sophomores on the list, won just about every award possible last year. The SEC newcomer and freshman of the year was second-team All-SEC, a first-team freshman All-American by CollegeInsider.com, a second-team freshman All-American by Basketball Times, a third-team freshman All-American by Rivals and CollegeHoops.net, second-team All-District 9 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, second-team All-District VII by the United States Basketball Writers Association, a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week and named to the Old Spice Classic all-tournament team.

He was 16th in the SEC in scoring (13.9), tied for 29th in rebounding (4.5), 15th in assists (3.14), sixth in steals (1.74), third in free-throw percentage (.812), eighth in three-point percentage (.386), 11th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.57), 12th in three-point goals per game (2.09) and fourth in minutes played (34.37).

He led the team in scoring, steals, free-throw shooting, three-point shooting, three-point goals per game and minutes played, and was second in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. He led the team in scoring 14 times, in assists 10 times and in double-figure scoring games with 24.

Over the summer, he led the USA Basketball Under-19 team to a silver medal finish in the World Championships at Serbia. The U.S. went 8-1 with Beverley leading the team in scoring (13.0), assists (3.2) and steals (3.4). He tied for second in rebounding (5.3), was second in three-point shooting (.394, 13-33) and third in free-throw shooting (.750, 18-24). He set a USA Basketball team record with 31 steals, shattering the previous mark of 20 set by Buck Johnson in 1983, and tied for fourth with 29 assists.

The list is composed of 50 student athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most coveted trophy. These top 50 candidates are comprised of returning players. Transfers, freshmen, and medical redshirts are not eligible for this preseason list, but will be evaluated and considered for both the Midseason Top 30 list and the National Ballot. Players not on the pre-season list are eligible for the mid-season top 30 and ballot. Last year, Kevin Durant of the University of Texas was the first freshman to win the Wooden Award.

A total of 16 NCAA conferences are represented. The Pac-10 leads the way with 10 Wooden Award All American team candidates. Other conferences include the Big East (eight players), the ACC (seven players), the Big 12 (six players), the SEC (five players), the Big Ten (two players), the Sun Belt (two players), Western Athletic (two players), Conference USA (one player), Southern Conference (one player), the Sun Belt (one player), the Horizon League (one player), the Colonial Athletic Association (one player), the Big South (one player), West Coast (one player) and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (one player).

In January, the Wooden Award committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed by the distribution of the National Ballot to more than 1,000 voters in early March. The 10-player Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the Tuesday after the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament is completed.

The 2008 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Men’s and Women’s John R. Wooden Award, the Wooden Award All-American Teams, and the Legends of Coaching Award to recipient Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of April 11-13, 2008. The top five male and female finalists will be invited to Los Angeles for the Award’s ceremony and will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their university’s general scholarship fund. One of these five players will be named the John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year at a live televised announcement from The Club where he is awarded the prestigious five-figured bronze trophy.

About the John R. Wooden Award

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 or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), and last year’s recipients, Kevin Durant of Texas and Candace Parker of Tennessee.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the All-American recipients, as well as sent over 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the awards name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All-American selections, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on the Friday prior to the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

All-American Team – Top 50 Candidates

(Based on a pre-season poll. Players listed alphabetically.)

* Indicates player was a 2006-07 Wooden Award All-American.