SPORTS
Kellan Grady Adds Wooden Award List to Preseason Resume
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Already named to the Jerry West and Naismith Trophy Watch Lists, Davidson’s Kellan Grady has now been selected to the John R. Wooden Award® Top 50 List, as announced Tuesday afternoon.
Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American TeamTM and Most Outstanding Player Award.
Grady a three-time all-conference performer, finished the 2019-20 regular season ranked fifth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 17.2 points per game and fourth in minutes played (35.8).
Through two games, the 6-5 shooting guard is averaging 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
The Preseason Top 50 represents 11 conferences. The Big Ten leads all conferences with ten selections, followed by the ACC and SEC with seven apiece, the Big 12 and PAC-12 with 6 each, the Big East with four, the Atlantic 10 and WCC with three apiece, the American with two selections, and the Mountain West and Conference USA with one selection each.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2021 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden AwardTM midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American TeamTM will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2021 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s following the NCAA Tournament in April.
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), Breanna Stewart (’15 and ’16) and last year’s recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Obi Toppin of Dayton.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.