Wagner and Acuff on Wooden Award Player of the Year Watch List
FAYETTEVILLE – Razorbacks D.J. Wagner and Darius Acuff Jr. are two of 50 players named to the John R. Wooden Award Watch List, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced today.
John R. Wooden Award, presented by Principal, is launching the 50th anniversary season of college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor.
Selected by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list comprises 50 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.
Wagner, a preseason All-SEC selection by the coaches and media, emerged as the team leader in the second half of the season and led the Razorbacks on an impressive run that culminated in a Sweet 16 appearance. Wagner was the only Razorback to start all 36 games and he was just one of three Hogs to play all 36 games. He led the team with 131 total assists, led the team in assists 16 times and had at least three assists 26 times (including 13 times with 5-plus assists). Wagner ranked second in the SEC in minutes (34:32) as he played all 20 minutes of a half 10 times and 30-plus minutes 32 times. In fact, his 1,245 total minutes played ranks fifth-best in school history for a season. After Boogie Fland’s injury, Wagner took over full-time at point guard and led Arkansas to a Sweet 16 run. In those final 18 games, he averaged 34.9 min, 12.2 pts, 4.6 assists, 50-60 FT (83.3%).
Acuff has gotten off to a great start to his rookie season at Arkansas, ranking among the nation’s top five freshmen in scoring. Others preseason honors for Acuff include:
- Naismith National Player of the Year Watch List (1 of 50)
- USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy POY Watch List (1 of 50)
- USBWA Wayman Tisdale Trophy FOY Watch List (1 of 25)
- Bob Cousy Award Watch List (1 of 20)
- Andy Katz’s Top 10 NCAA Freshmen
- Dick Vitale’s Diaper Dandies (1 of 5 National Impact Freshmen)
- All-SEC third team (Coaches)
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