Los Angeles (March 31, 2014)— The 10-player John R. Wooden Award All American Team was released today by The Los Angeles Athletic Club and announced on the ESPNU show “Katz Korner.” The 10 players were selected by a voting base of nearly 1,000 college basketball experts throughout the nation and by fans through the Fan Voting site woodenawardvote.com. The Top 5 vote-getters have been invited to Los Angeles for the Wooden Award Gala presented by Wendy’s on April 11 and were highlighted on the show. In alphabetical order, the invited players are Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early, Arizona’s Nick Johnson, Creighton’s Doug McDermott, Duke’s Jabari Parker, and Louisville’s Russ Smith.

The All American Team is made up of the 10 student-athletes who received the most votes, with voters ranking the balloted players from 1 to 10. All players have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA, an important component of the Award insisted upon by Coach Wooden. Voters could consider performance during the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The Women’s All American team will be released Wednesday.

Rounding out the All American Team, also in alphabetical order, are Sean Kilpatrick of Cincinnati, Shabazz Napier of Connecticut, Casey Prather of Florida, Nik Stauskas of Michigan and Andrew Wiggins of Kansas.  The John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s Men’s Player of the Year will be announced on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Friday, April 4 in Dallas, Texas. The 38th Annual Wooden Award Gala presented by Wendy’s will honor the male and female Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, this year given to Stanford Head Women’s Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer. The Gala will take place April 11, 2014 at The Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Creighton senior forward Doug McDermott, a Wooden Award All American in 2012 and 2013, is the only returner to the team and is the first three-time selection on the men’s side since North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (2007-09). McDermott is the nation’s leading scorer at 26.7 points per game, and his 3,150 career points puts him No. 5 on the NCAA all-time scoring list. He led the Bluejays to the last three NCAA Tournaments.

Early of Wichita State led the Shockers to an amazing 34-0 regular season record, averaging 16.4 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 84% from the free throw line. Johnson of Arizona did it all for the Wildcats, pouring in 16.3 points and adding 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists while taking his team to the Elite Eight. Parker was one of two freshmen chosen to the All American team; he averaged 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds for Duke. Smith led Louisville to the American Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles, averaging 18.2 points and 4.6 assists.

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 minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA.  Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ‘11). Michigan’s Trey Burke won the 2013 Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s.

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. The Award has also sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award’s 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 the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WoodenAward.com, following us on Twitter (@WoodenAward), or going to the Wooden Award facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward.  For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5231 or via email at woodenaward@laac.net.

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