Brown Named to Wooden Award Preseason Top 50
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami men’s basketball sophomore guard Bruce Brown, Jr. has been named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50, announced Tuesday. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor.
It is yet another early-season honor for Brown, who was named to the Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List last week. He also has been tabbed on the preseason watch lists for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award and Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List. In addition, he was named to the Preseason All-ACC Second Team.
Brown started his 2017-18 season with a huge performance, recording a triple-double in Miami’s 77-45 win over Gardner-Webb. He scored 10 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and recorded 10 assists in his second career triple-double. It was just the third triple-double in school history and 31st in ACC history as he became just the sixth ACC player to record two triple-doubles.
Brown had a record-breaking freshman season at The U, posting program records for a rookie in minutes (1,053), points (391) and field goals (134).
As the season progressed, so did Brown’s significance to the Miami squad, which went 21-12, 10-8 last season. He contributed 30 and 25 points, respectively, as the Hurricanes recorded top-10 victories over ACC rivals North Carolina and Duke.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2018 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are eligible for the Wooden Award midseason list, late season list and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players, who have been qualified as meeting the standards set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee. Voting will open prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2018 John R. Wooden Award will be presented during the ESPN College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s on Friday, April 6, 2018.
Miami (2-0) plays host to Florida A&M at 7 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 15) at the Watsco Center.
To keep up with Miami’s men’s basketball team, follow @CanesHoops on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
