LOS ANGELES, CA (March 5, 2022) – The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced its 2022 Men's National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy's® today on ESPN College GameDay.

Among those named is Villanova's Collin Gillespie.

Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding college basketball player in the United States.

Despite not previously appearing in the Wooden Watch this season, Walker Kessler of Auburn makes his debut on the National Ballot. Two schools have multiple players on the Wooden Award National Ballot,
Auburn (Kessler and Jabari Smith) and Gonzaga (Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme). The Big Ten leads all conferences with five selections, followed by the SEC with three, the Pac-12 and WCC with two each,
and the ACC, Big East and Big 12 with one selection apiece.

All balloted players have been certified by their university to meet or exceed the qualifications for the Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden when the Award was established. The qualifications include: candidates must exhibit strength of character, both on and off the court; candidates must be full-time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; candidates must be making progress toward graduation and have a cumulative 2.00 grade point average since enrolling in their school;
candidates must contribute to team effort; candidates must excel in both offense and defense; and candidates should be considered on their performance over the course of the entire season.

Voting will take place from March 14th to March 21st, and voters take into consideration a player's entire season of play, as well as the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The finalists for the 2022 Wooden Award presented by Wendy's will be announced on March 30th
.
Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's 2021-22 Men's National Ballot 
Ochai Agbaji Kansas Big 12 6-5 Sr. G

Paolo Banchero Duke ACC 6-10 Fr. F

Kofi Cockburn* Illinois Big Ten 7-0 Jr. C

Johnny Davis Wisconsin Big Ten 6-5 Soph G/F

Collin Gillespie Villanova Big East 6-3 Sr.

G Chet Holmgren Gonzaga WCC 7-0 Fr. C

Jaden Ivey Purdue Big Ten 6-4 Soph G

Johnny Juzang UCLA Pac-12 6-7 Jr. G

Walker Kessler Auburn SEC 7-1 Soph F/C

E.J. Liddell Ohio State Big Ten 6-7 Jr. F

Bennedict Mathurin Arizona Pac-12 6-6 Soph G

Keegan Murray Iowa Big Ten 6-8 Soph F

Jabari Smith Auburn SEC 6-10 Fr. F

Drew Timme* Gonzaga WCC 6-10 Jr. F

Oscar Tshiebwe Kentucky SEC 6-9 Jr. F

* indicates player selected as 2021 Wooden Award All American John R. Wooden Award, John R. Wooden Award All American Team, Wooden Award All American Team, Wooden Watch, Wooden Award and the player silhouettes are trademarks or registered trademarks of LAACO, Ltd. Wendy's is a registered trademark of Wendy's International, LLC. Used with permission.