’22 winner Tshiebwe on Wooden preseason list

Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, who could become the second two-time winner of the Wooden Award, tops the list of the preseason top-50 candidates for the award that was released Tuesday.

Tshiebwe, who has missed Kentucky’s first two games while recovering from an offseason knee procedure, has not yet played for the No. 4 Wildcats, who will face Michigan State at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis on Tuesday. He is joined on the preseason list by two teammates: freshman Cason Wallace and point guard Sahvir Wheeler.

North Carolina, the No. 1 team in the country in the latest AP poll, also has three players on the Wooden Award top-50 list. Armando Bacot, an AP preseason All-American, is joined by R.J. Davis and Caleb Love.

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, Houston’s Marcus Sasser and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis — the three other members of the AP preseason All-American team, along with Tshiebwe and Bacot — are also featured on the Wooden Award’s preseason list.

With name, image and likeness (NIL) rules, a number of stars who might’ve chosen to turn pro decided to return to college this season, where they’ll make significant sums with sponsorship deals. No group was impacted by this trend more than the top big men in the country and the Wooden Award top-50 preseason list reflects as much.

Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson and Purdue’s Zach Edey are two of eight players 6-foot-10 or taller on the list.

While the bulk of the representation features athletes from the Power 5 schools and the Big East, a handful of mid-major stars are listed, too.

Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis, a fifth-year star who has finished top-five in scoring for the last four years, and Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas, who led the nation in scoring two years ago, are mentioned.

And the youth were not overlooked, either. Arkansas standout Nick Smith Jr., a projected lottery pick on ESPN’s latest mock draft, is one of seven freshmen on the top-50 preseason list.