Big Ten Lands 10 Players On 2017 Wooden Award List

Although the college basketball season just started last weekend, the Wooden Award just released its list of players under consideration. Many consider the Wooden Award to be college basketball’s most prestigious individual award and the winner generally gets serious NBA Draft consideration.

The Big Ten found itself well represented on the list with 10 players making the cut, including players from seven different teams. Obviously, that speaks to just how exciting this season should be for Big Ten fans.

Here’s a full look at the Big Ten players listed below.

Big Ten On Preseason Wooden Award Watch List:

• James Blackmon (Indiana)
• Miles Bridges (Michigan State)
• Thomas Bryant (Indiana)
• Ethan Happ (Wisconsin)
• Nigel Hayes (Wisconsin)
• Malcolm Hill (Illinois)
• Peter Jok (Iowa)
• Bronson Koenig (Wisconsin)
• Caleb Swanigan (Purdue)
• Melo Trimble (Maryland)

Most of the Big Ten names on this list came with little surprise. Hayes, Hill, Jok, and Trimble all put up massive numbers over the last few seasons and as such, were pretty obvious selections to the list. Additionally, Bryant, Happ, Swanigan are all coming off great freshmen campaigns and appear ready to take big steps forward yet again.

However, the names that did pop out were Blackmon, Bridges, and Koenig. All three are expected to be great players this season, but none have proven they can put up numbers anywhere near Wooden Award consideration. As such, it will be interesting to see if they can live up to the hype during this season.

As mentioned above, seven Big Ten teams made the cut with at least one player listed. The Big Ten teams were the most players listed were Indiana and Wisconsin, who each had three players included. This isn’t a big surprise considering that the Hoosiers and Badgers are considered by many to be the Big Ten favorites this season.

If interested, you can see the full list here.