4 Tar Heels Among 50 Preseason Wooden Award Picks

The Men's Preseason Top 50 watch list was released this week and to no surprise, four North Carolina Tar Heels, three Vanderbilt Commodores and three Ohio State Buckeyes highlighted the early nominations; freshmen and transfers do not qualify for this list, but can be added along with other standouts over the course of the season.

The biggest name on the list is Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, the only consensus all-american holdover from last season; the sophomore center averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds and was a likely top-five NBA Draft pick in June, but opted to return to Columbus for a second season. Sullinger has shed some pounds to improve his athleticism and quickness, but attempting to maintain most of his strength and finishing ability around the rim. Two of his teammates, point guard Aaron Craft and shooting guard William Buford were also among the 50 named.

For the first time ever, 2010-11 ACC regular-season champion, North Carolina had four players chosen to the prestigious pre-season list, led by conference freshman of the year, Harrison Barnes, a likely top pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, as well as three of his teammates, guard Kendall Marshall and forwards John Henson and Tyler Zeller; Marshall, Henson and Zeller are all considered first-round prospects as well.

Vanderbilt, a preseason top ten team with five returning starters, is the only other team with three players chosen. SEC Player of the Year runner-up John Jenkins, wing Jeffery Taylor and center Festus Ezeli lead the Commodores in hopes to unseat Kentucky and Florida atop the SEC and avoid churning out a third straight NCAA opening-round loss.

Six other programs had multiple players named to the preseason list: Cal's Jorge Gutierrez and Allen Crabbe, defending national champion Jeremy Lamb and Alex Oriahki, Memphis' guards Joe Jackson and Will Barton, Syracuse's Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph and UCLA's frontcourt pair Reeves Nelson and Joshua Smith.

The official John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list is below, but first, some of our top five snubs:

D.J. Cooper, Ohio: Don't dismiss his size of his program, this undersized point guard is the real deal. His 2010-11 numbers: 15.8 points, 7.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Yancy Gates, Cincinnati: Mick Cronin and the Bearcats have a potential Top 25 program on their hands, led by inside-outside big man, Yancy Gates and his 12 points and 7 rebounds per game.

Rob Jones, Saint Mary's: The senior is as versatile as they come- shooting 33.1 percent from behind the arc, but mixing it up down low en route to 13.8 points and 7.7 rebounds last season.

Cameron Moore, UAB: Not a well-known name just yet, Moore has breakout potential after finishing second on the Blazers in scoring (14.0) and third in the league in rebounding (9.3). He also chips in from the perimeter offensively (33.3 percent from behind the arc) and defensively (.7 steals, 1.5 blocks).

Terrence Ross, Washington: Ross takes over the Huskies offensively following the departure of their top two scorers and finds himself in an excellent position to excel with two generous distributors (Tony Wroten and Abdul Gaddy) starting alongside of him. He could lead the Pac-12 in scoring this season.

Name

Tim Abromaitis

Harrison Barnes

Will Barton

Dee Bost

William Buford

Allen Crabbe

Aaron Craft

Marcus Denmon

Festus Ezeli

Ashton Gibbs

Michael Glover

Drew Gordon

Draymond Green

JaMychal Green

Jorge Gutierrez

Tim Hardaway, Jr.

Elias Harris

John Henson

Tu Holloway

Robbie Hummel

Joe Jackson

Scoop Jardine

John Jenkins

Orlando Johnson

Darius Johnson-Odom

Kevin Jones

Terrence Jones

Perry Jones III

Kris Joseph

Jeremy Lamb

Kendall Marshall

Trevor Mbakwe

Ray McCallum

Doug McDermott

Khris Middleton

Reeves Nelson

Andrew Nicholson

Alex Oriakhi

Thomas Robinson

John Shurna

Peyton Siva

Joshua Smith

Jared Sullinger*

Jeffery Taylor

Jordan Taylor

Casper Ware

Maalik Wayns

Keith Wright

Patric Young

Tyler Zeller

Height

6-8

6-6

6-2

6-5

6-6

6-2

6-3

6-11

6-2

6-7

6-9

6-7

6-8

6-3

6-5

6-7

6-11

6-0

6-8

6-1

6-2

6-3

6-5

6-2

6-8

6-11

6-7

6-5

6-4

6-8

6-1

6-7

6-8

6-9

6-0

6-10

6-9

6-7

6-1

5-10

6-2

6-8

6-9

7-0

Class

Sr.

So.

Sr.

So.

Sr.

So.

Jr.

Sr.

So.

Sr.

Jr.

Sr.

So.

Sr.

So.

Sr.

So.

Jr.

Sr.

Jr.

Sr.

Jr.

So.

Sr.

Jr.

Sr.

So.

Sr.

Position

G/F

F/C

University

Notre Dame

North Carolina

Memphis

Mississippi State

Ohio State

California

Ohio State

Missouri

Vanderbilt

Pitt

Iona

New Mexico

Michigan State

Alabama

California

Michigan

Gonzaga

North Carolina

Xavier

Purdue

Memphis

Syracuse

Vanderbilt

UCSB

Marquette

West Virginia

Kentucky

Baylor

Syracuse

Connecticut

North Carolina

Minnesota

Detroit

Creighton

Texas A&M

UCLA

St. Bonaventure

Connecticut

Kansas

Northwestern

Louisville

UCLA

Ohio State

Vanderbilt

Wisconsin

Long Beach State

Villanova

Harvard

Florida

North Carolina

Conference

Big East

ACC

Conference USA

SEC

Big Ten

Pac-12

Big Ten

Big 12

SEC

Big East

MAAC

Mountain West

Big Ten

SEC

Pac-12

Big Ten

WCC

ACC

Atlantic 10

Big Ten

Conference USA

Big East

SEC

Big West

Big East

SEC

Big 12

Big East

ACC

Big Ten

Horizon League

Missouri Valley

Big 12

Pac-12

Atlantic 10

Big East

Big 12

Big Ten

Big East

Pac-12

Big Ten

SEC

Big Ten

Big West

Big East

Ivy League

SEC

ACC