Flynn Named To Wooden Award Top 50 Candidates List

LOS ANGELES, CA — Sophomore Jonny Flynn is one of the 2008-09 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy, as announced today by Richard “Duke” Llewellyn, Wooden Award Chairman and founder. The list is composed of 50 student athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor.

Flynn started all 35 games in his freshman campaign with the Orange. He shared BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Year honors and was an honorable mention all-conference selection. He averaged 15.7 points and 5.3 assists per game. Flynn's 185 assists were the second most by a Syracuse freshman (Pearl Washington had 199 in 1983-84) and his 56 three-point baskets represented the third-best freshman total in SU history (Donte Greene, 90; Gerry McNamara, 85).

Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, last year’s Wooden Award winner, returns to Chapel Hill for his final collegiate season and has a chance to become only the second repeat men’s Wooden Award winner. Ralph Sampson of Virginia won the Award twice, in 1982 and 1983. Other returning Wooden All-Americans include Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody and Davidson guard Stephen Curry.

Hansbrough led the ACC in scoring at 22.6 ppg as a junior, while shooting an impressive 54% from the field and 80.6% from the free throw line. Known to Tarheel fans as "Psycho T," Hansbrough was the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the year in leading UNC to a school-record 36 wins and its 17th Final Four. In putting Davidson front and center on the national scene, Curry averaged more than 25 ppg as a junior and set an NCAA record with 162 three-pointers on the season. Harangody averaged better than 20 points and 10 rebounds a year ago for the Irish.

Returning players from last year’s Wooden Award ballot, in addition to the three All-Americans above, include UCLA’s Darren Collison, Connecticut’s A.J. Price, Tennessee’s Tyler Smith and Robbie Hummel of Purdue.

Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the preseason list. These players and others who excel throughout the season will be evaluated and considered for January’s Midseason list and the official voting ballot released in March.

North Carolina (Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson) had three players on the list. Six schools placed two players on the list: Louisville (Earl Clark, Terrence Williams), Duke (Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson), Marquette (Jerel McNeal, Dominic James), Pittsburgh (DeJuan Blair, Sam Young), Connecticut (Price, Hasheem Thabeet), and Texas (Damion James, A.J. Abrams).

In all, 42 schools and 13 conferences are represented on the Wooden Award Pre-Season list. Leading the way is the Big East (12), followed by the ACC (8), Pac-10 (5), SEC (5), Big 12 (5), Atlantic-10 (2), Big Ten (3), Conference USA (3), Mountain West (2), West Coast (2), Colonial Athletic Association (1), Ohio Valley (1), and the Southern Conference (1)

In mid-January, the Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed in March by the National Ballot, consisting of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round during the NCAA Tournament.

The 33^rd annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award to Rick Barnes from The University of Texas, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club in April, 2009.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), and 2007 recipient Kevin Durant of Texas. Candace Parker of Tennessee won the Women’s Wooden Award in 2007 and 2008.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the All-American recipients as well as sent over 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the awards name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All-Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on the Friday prior to the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

The Race for the Wooden Award is on! Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WOODENAWARD.com. For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff via phone at 213-630-5231 or email at woodenaward@laac.net.

                     2008-2009 John R. Wooden Award
                            Preseason Top 50 List
                                                              (Based on a preseason poll. Players listed alphabetically.)

Player Last	Player Last	Height	Position	Class	University
A.J.	Abrams	5-11	G	Sr.	Texas
Wink	Adams	6-0	G	Sr.	UNLV
DeJuan	Blair	6-7	F	So.	Pittsburgh
Jon	Brockman	6-7	F	Sr.	Washington
Derrick	Brown	6-8	F	Jr.	Xavier
Chase	Budinger	6-7	F	Jr.	Arizona
Nick	Calathes	6-6	G/F	So.	Florida
Dionte	Christmas	6-5	G	Sr.	Temple
Earl	Clark	6-9	G/F	Jr.	Louisville
Sherron	Collins	5-11	G	Jr.	Kansas
Darren	Collison	6-0	G	Sr.	UCLA
Lee	Cummard	6-7	G	Sr.	BYU
Stephen	Curry *	6-3	G	Jr.	Davidson
Devan	Downey	5-9	G	Jr.	South Carolina
Robert	Dozier	6-9	F	Sr.	Memphis
Wayne	Ellington	6-4	G	Jr.	North Carolina
Jonny	Flynn	6-0	G	So.	Syracuse
Taj	Gibson	6-9	F	Jr.	USC
Blake	Griffin	6-10	F	So.	Oklahoma
Tyler	Hansbrough ! *^	6-9	F	Sr.	North Carolina
Luke	Harangody *	6-8	F	Jr.	Notre Dame
James	Harden	6-4	G	So.	Arizona State
Gerald	Henderson	6-4	G/F	Jr.	Duke
Lester	Hudson	6-2	G	Sr.	Tennessee Martin
Robbie	Hummel	6-8	F	So.	Purdue
Stefon	Jackson	6-5	G	Sr.	UTEP
Dominic	James	5-11	G	Sr.	Marquette
Damion	James	6-7	G/F	Jr.	Texas
Curtis	Jerrells	6-1	G	Sr.	Baylor
James	Johnson	6-8	F	So.	Wake Forest
Marcus	Landry	6-7	F	Sr.	Wisconsin
Ty	Lawson	5-11	G	Jr.	North Carolina
Eric	Maynor	6-2	G	Sr.	VCU
Jack	McClinton	6-1	G	Sr.	University of Miami
Jerel	McNeal	6-3	G	Sr.	Marquette
Patrick	Mills	6-0	G	So.	Saint Mary's
Raymar	Morgan	6-7	F	Jr.	Michigan State
A.J.	Ogilvy	6-11	C	So.	Vanderbilt
Jeremy	Pargo	6-2	G	Sr.	Gonzaga
Patrick	Patterson	6-8	F	So.	Kentucky
A.J.	Price	6-2	G	Sr.	Connecticut
Scottie	Reynolds	6-2	G	Jr.	Villanova
Tyrese	Rice	6-1	G	Sr.	Boston College
Kyle	Singler	6-8	F	So.	Duke
Tyler	Smith	6-7	F	Jr.	Tennessee
DaJuan	Summers	6-8	F	Jr.	Georgetown
Hasheem	Thabeet	7-3	C	Jr.	Connecticut
Robert	Vaden	6-5	G/F	Sr.	UAB
Terrence	Williams	6-6	F	Sr.	Louisville
Sam	Young	6-6	F	Jr.	Pittsburgh

! 2008 John R. Wooden Award Winner * 2007-08 Wooden Award All-American ^2006-07 Wooden Award All-American

Syracuse University Athletics

Flynn Named To Wooden Award Top 50 Candidates List

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