Indiana’s Zeller, Oladipo leading candidates for Wooden Award plum

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E Sports) – Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo of Indiana were among the 15 players picked by a committee as finalists for the Wooden Player of the Year Award, which will be announced at the Final Four in Atlanta.

Several players who didn’t make the midseason list, including Oladipo and Gonzaga junior Kelly Olynyk, were among those who are shoo-in for the first-team Wooden All-American spots, that will be announced on April 1.

Other finalists were Trey Burke of Michigan, Erick Green of Virginia Tech, Shane Larkin of Miami (FL), Doug McDermott of Creighton, Ben McLemore of Kansas, Mason Plumlee of Duke, Otto Porter of Georgetown, Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State, Deshaun Thomas of Ohio State, Jeff Withey of Kansas and Nate Wolters of South Dakota State.

Oladipo, Michigan sophomore guard Trey Burke and Zeller are also in a tight battle for Big Ten Player of the Year.

Burke is considered a top-three finalist for the Wooden Award while Zeller probably won’t finish in the top five with Oladipo and Burke canceling him out coming out of the Big Ten.

Creighton junior Doug McDermott is also a leading contender to finish in the top three in the Wooden Award as well. McDermott is the only repeat Wooden Award All-American from 2012.

Georgetown sophomore Otto Porter Jr. has become a clear favorite for Big East player of the year and a likely first-team Wooden Award All-American.

The other potential first-team All-Americans come out of the Big 12, where Kansas’ Ben McLemore and Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart will compete for the player of the year award in the conference with fellow Wooden Award top-15 finalist Jeff Withey of Kansas.

The one other candidate for player of the year in the conference who was omitted from the final 15 is Kansas State’s Rodney McGruder.

---

---