Garza, Cunningham among finalists for Wood
The nationwide ballotfor the John R. Wood Award — awarded to college basketball’s top participant — became revealed Saturday, with 15 gamers alongside side Iowa‘s Luka Garza and Oklahoma State‘s Cade Cunningham among those featured on the list.
Garza, the runner-up for the Wood Award final season to Obi Toppin, has delivered on his predicament because the Wood entrance-runner throughout the 2020-21 campaign. The 6-foot-11 heart enters the final weekend of the customary season averaging 23.9 components per sport, top doubtless in the Gigantic Ten, to accomplice with 8.4 rebounds per contest. Garza’s fifth-ranked Hawkeyes have spent loads of the season in the AP top 10 and are a No. 2 seed in Joe Lunardi’s most up-to-date NCAA tournament projection heading into Sunday’s customary-season finale with Wisconsin.
Moreover in the combo for the award is Cunningham, whose sensational freshman season has helped put him as a first-rate candidate for the No. 1 get in the 2021 NBA draft. The 6-foot-8 level guard is averaging 19.7 components, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per sport for a 17-7 Cowboys team that appears residing on reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017.
Different notables on the Wood ballotinclude Villanova guard Collin Gillespie, who retained his establish on the list despite struggling a season-ending knee ruin in a desire over Creighton on Wednesday. Gillespie averaged 14.0 components and 4.6 assists for the season for a Villanova team that claimed the Gigantic East customary-season title.
Ohio State forward E.J. Liddell became the lone participant on the final ballotwho did not appear on the old Wood stare list presented in early February. Liddell is averaging 15.9 components and 6.7 rebounds per sport for an Ohio State squad that’s preserving down a No. 2 seed in Lunardi’s most up-to-date Bracketology update.
Dropped from the list for the explanation that February update were UConn‘s James Bouknight, Minnesota‘s Marcus Carr, Pittsburgh‘s Justin Champagnie, Houston‘s Quentin Grimes, Rutgers‘ Ron Harper Jr. and Louisville‘s Carlik Jones.