Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren among 15 finalists for Wooden Award

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren were both named to the national ballot for the Wooden Award Saturday during ESPN’s College GameDay show.

By making the national ballot, Timme and Holmgren are still in consideration for the Wooden Award, which recognizes college basketball’s most outstanding player, as well as the the Wooden All-American Team.

A total of 15 players were named to the ballot on Saturday. Aside from Timme and Holmgren, players included were Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji, Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie, Purdue’s Jaden Ivy, UCLA’s Johnny Juzang, Auburn’s Walker Kessler, Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell, Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin, Iowa’s Keegan Murray, Auburn’s Jabari Smith and Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe.

Top-ranked Gonzaga and fifth-ranked Auburn are the only schools with multiple players on the list.

Timme was recently named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year after averaging 17.6 points per game this season on 58.3% from the field – a number that ranks third in the conference and 17th in the nation. In three seasons at Gonzaga, Timme owns a record of 86-6 (.935) and has gone an impressive 43-2 (.956) in conference play.

Holmgren makes his way onto the national ballot the same week the freshman was named WCC Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. The projected NBA lottery pick tied the WCC record set by Hondre Brewer by averaging 3.7 blocks per league game, and Holmgren ranks fourth in the nation with 97 total blocks. So far this season, he has more blocked shots (97) than missed shots from the field (85) and leads the conference in shooting percentage at 61.6%.

Voting for the Wooden Award will take place March 14-21, and finalists will be announced on March 30.