Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Purdue and Gonzaga duos highlight Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 List
By JACOB POLACHECK
Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme and Purdue’s Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey were named to the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list, announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club Monday.
No. 2 Gonzaga and No. 4 Purdue were the only two programs to feature multiple players on the list.
Holmgren, the 7-foot freshman center out of Minneapolis, MN, is averaging 13.9 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game. He is projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, per the latest ESPN 2022 Mock Draft.
Timme, the 6-foot-10 junior forward out of Richardson, TX, is averaging 18.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 blocks per game. He is projected as the No. 50 overall pick in the latest ESPN Mock Draft.
Holmgren and Timme are the only two players from the West Coast Conference to make the list.
Meanwhile, Ivey and Edey were two of the seven Big Ten players selected to the list, joining Illinois center Kofi Cockburn, Iowa forward Keegan Murray, Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, Ohio State forward E.J. Liddell and Wisconsin guard Johnny Davis.
Ivey, the 6-foot-4 sophomore guard out of South Bend, IN, is averaging 16.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He is projected as the No. 5 overall pick in the latest ESPN Mock Draft.
Edey, the 7-foot-4 center out of Toronto, ON, is averaging 15.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game on 70.8 percent shooting from the field. He is projected as the No. 46 overall pick in the latest ESPN Mock Draft.
After a previous version of the Watch List was announced in early January, Iowa State’s Iziah Brockington, Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson, UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duke’s Wendell Moore Jr. and Purdue’s Trevion Williams failed to make the cut this time around.
The full list of finalists can be found below:
