Ohio State basketball forward E.J. Liddell is one of 15 players to be named to the national Wooden Award ballot, given annually to the most outstanding player in college basketball.
Now at the tail-end of his junior season, Liddell is averaging 20.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per contest in 32.1 minutes of play this year. He has stepped up his per game average stats every season as he has developed at OSU and is considered one of the best forwards in the college game, and a likely first-round NBA draft pick.
The Other players on the ballot include Auburn’s Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith, Bennedict Mathurin of Arizona, Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme of Gonzaga, Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Keegan Murray of Iowa, Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji, Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey, Johnny Juzang of UCLA, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie and Johnny Davis of Wisconsin.
Wooden Award National Ballot pic.twitter.com/hDDyyy2cSq
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 5, 2022
The winner of the Wooden Award will then be announced after the completion of the NCAA Tournament in April. The list will be pared down to five finalists after a top-ten vote ends on March 21.
Ohio State has had just one winner of the Wooden Award, Evan Turner back in 2010.