Aug. 6, 2003
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – After tallying the ballots of the National Preseason Selection Committee, the John R. Wooden Award today announced the Wooden Award Preseason All-American Team (see attached), 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. Only returning players are eligible for the Preseason Team, although transfers and freshmen as well as other players who excel throughout the season will be evaluated and considered for the Midseason Top 30 list and the National Ballot.
“The Preseason Selection Committee had a tough chore in preparing this list because there are so many new faces this year,” said Duke Llewellyn, Wooden Award chairman. “We are eager for the new season to get underway so that we can see which of these players will emerge as the most dominant in college basketball.”
Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor, the only Preseason candidate who was honored last year as a member of the 2003 Wooden Award All-American Team, had an impressive season in which he averaged 15.9 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game. In addition to Okafor, other Preseason candidates that were mentioned in the running for last year’s Wooden award and were named to the official voting ballot include guards Chris Duhon (Duke) and Chris Thomas (Notre Dame).
Ten NCAA conferences are represented, including the Big East (11 players), Big 12 (10 players), Pac 10 (7 players), Big 10, (5 players), ACC (5 players), SEC (4 players), Conference USA (3 players), Atlantic 10 (2 players), West Coast Conference (2 players), and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (1 player). Several teams stand out with two nominations apiece including Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Arizona, Connecticut, Missouri, Kansas, Florida, Syracuse, Texas, and Gonzaga. Each of last year’s Final Four teams boasts at least one representative on the Preseason Team including Syracuse (Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick), Texas (James Thomas and Brandon Mouton), Kansas (Wayne Simien and Keith Langford) and Marquette (Travis Diener).
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 university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan (’84), Larry Bird (’79), Tim Duncan (’97) and last year’s recipient, T.J. Ford (’03).
The 2004 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American team and the presentation of the Legends of Coaching Award, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday, April 10, 2004 and will be broadcast live on a CBS telecast.
The top five finalists will receive a contribution from the John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund in their name to their university’s general scholarship fund. The Wooden Award scholarship fund was established in 2002 by Applied Materials and corporate partners through the California Community Foundation (CCF) to honor Coach Wooden’s dedication as an educator. The scholarship fund distributed a total of $75,000 to five universities last year, enabling 23 deserving students to pursue their educational goals. Anyone interested may contribute directly to the scholarship fund through the CCF (www.calfund.org).
2003-04 Wooden Award Preseason
All-American Team – Top 50 Candidates
(Based on a preseason poll. Players listed alphabetically.)
Andre
Barrett
5’10”
Sr.
G
Seton Hall
Kevin
Bookout
6’8″
So.
F
Oklahoma
Dee
Brown
5’11”
So.
G
Illinois
Josh
Childress
6’8″
Jr.
F
Stanford
Paul
Davis
6’11’
So.
C
Michigan State
Travis
Diener
6’1″
Jr.
G
Marquette
Ike
Diogu
6’8″
So.
F
Arizona State
Chris
Duhon
6’1″
Sr.
G
Duke
Andre
Emmett
6’5″
Sr.
F
Texas Tech
Raymond
Felton
6’0″
So.
G
North Carolina
Gerald
Fitch
6’3″
Sr.
G
Kentucky
Luis
Flores
6’2″
Sr.
G
Manhattan
Torin
Francis
6’10”
So.
F/C
Notre Dame
Matt
Freije
6’9″
Sr.
F
Vanderbilt
Channing
Frye
6’10”
Jr.
F
Arizona
Francisco
Garcia
6’10”
Jr.
F
Louisville
Ryan
Gomes
6’8″
Jr.
F
Providence
Ben
Gordon
6’2″
Jr.
G
Connecticut
David
Harrison
7’0″
Jr.
C
Colorado
Chris
Hill
6’3″
Jr.
G
Michigan State
Julius
Hodge
6’6″
Jr.
G
North Carolina State
Daniel
Horton
6’3″
So.
G
Michigan
Luke
Jackson
6’7″
Sr.
F
Oregon
Arthur
Johnson
6’9″
Sr.
C
Missouri
Keith
Langford
6’4″
Jr.
F
Kansas
David
Lee
6’8″
Jr.
F
Florida
Jason
Maxiell
6’7″
Sr.
F
Cincinnati
Rashad
McCants
6’3″
So.
F
North Carolina
Gerry
McNamara
6’2″
So.
G
Syracuse
Marcus
Moore
6’3″
Sr.
G
Washington State
Brandon
Mouton
6’4″
Sr.
G
Texas
Jameer
Nelson
6’1″
Sr.
G
St. Joseph’s
Emeka
Okafor *
6’9″
Jr.
F/C
Connecticut
Julius
Page
6’3″
Sr.
G
Pittsburgh
Rickey
Paulding
6’5″
Sr.
G
Missouri
J.J.
Redick
6’4″
So.
G
Duke
Darius
Rice
6’10”
Sr.
F
Miami
Lawrence
Roberts
6’9″
Jr.
F
Baylor
Romain
Sato
6’5″
Sr.
G
Xavier
Wayne
Simien
6’8″
Jr.
F
Kansas
Craig
Smith
6’7″
So.
F
Boston College
Blake
Stepp
6’4″
Sr.
G
Gonzaga
Salim
Stoudamire
6’1″
Jr.
G
Arizona
Amit
Tamir
6’10”
Jr.
F/C
California
Chris
Thomas
6’1″
Jr.
G
Notre Dame
James
Thomas
6’8″
Sr.
C
Texas
Cory
Violette
6’8″
Sr.
F/C
Gonzaga
Matt
Walsh
6’6″
So.
F
Florida
Hakim
Warrick
6’9″
Jr.
F
Syracuse
Bracey
Wright
6’3″
So.
G
Indiana
