Aleks Maric on preseason Wooden Award watch list

[AuroranHusker]

Senior Aleks Maric is one of 50 candidates for the 2007-08 Wooden Award.

 

Nebraska senior center Aleks Maric was among the 50 athletes named to the preseason watch list for the Mens 2007-08 John R. Wooden Award, announced today by The Los Angeles Athletic Clubs 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, and is considered the nations most coveted college basketball award.

 

Maric was previously selected to the preseason All-Big 12 first team by the league's coaches and was named a third-team preseason All-American by Athlon Sports magazine. The 6-11, 275-pounder is the top returning scorer (18.5 ppg) and rebounder (8.7 rpg) in the Big 12 Conference entering 2007-08. He ended last year with 1,111 points and 680 rebounds, only the second player in Nebraska history to top 1,000 points and 600 rebounds before the end of his junior season.

 

Maric is one of six players from the Big 12 Conference on the original watch list for the Wooden Award. Other candidates from the league include: Brandon Rush (Kansas), Mario Chalmers (Kansas), D.J. Augustin (Texas), Joseph Jones (Texas A&M) and Martin Zeno (Texas Tech).

 

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

 

The list is composed of 50 student athletes who, based on last years individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketballs 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 preseason list are eligible for the midseason 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 Mens and Womens 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 Awards ceremony and will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their universitys 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 nations 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 years 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.

 

Link to huskers.com

[huskerfan500]

that is great hopefully him and Anderson can lead the new guys to the tourney but I am not holding my breathe, but I am expecting some tourney time within 2 years. get it done Doc.