University of Oklahoma junior guard Chavanno "Buddy" Hield is just one of three Big-12 players who survived yesterday's Midseason Top 25 cut to make it to the Los Angeles Athletic Club's John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list.
Hield is currently averaging 17.1 points and has nine 20-plus point games to his credit this season. He is also averaging 5.6 rebounds per game, while shooting a decent 42 percent from the field and 38 percent from three-point range. He scored a season high 31 points on January 10 in a 66-63 overtime loss to the Kansas State Wildcats. He shot 11-for-21 from the field and went 5-for-9 from long distance. He also added five rebounds and three steals. Despite the loss, he became the 41st player to join the Sooners' 1,000-point club.
In their last game on Monday, Hield scored 17 points on 7-for-16 shooting from the field in 31 minutes of action as the Sooners knocked off the nationally no. 14 ranked Iowa State Cyclones, 94-83. The Sooners, which currently has a win/loss record of 17-7, will be in action again on Saturday when they take on Kansas State. That game is slated to begin at 8 p.m. and will be broadcasted live on ESPN2.
In November, Hield broke Oklahoma's single game three-point record and tied the Big 12 record by going 7-for-7 from long distance. Later that same week, he became the first recipient of this season's Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week award. Prior to the season, Hield was named to the All-Big 12 preseason team, which is voted on by the Big 12 coaches.
Other Big 12 players on the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list are Iowa State's Georges Niang and West Virginia's Juwan Stalen. Other prominent names on the list are Duke's Jahlil Okafor, Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky and Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein.
All Late Season Top 20 players appeared on last month's Midseason Top 25. However, players not on this most recent list are still eligible for the ballot, which will consist of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).
Voting begins at the end of the season, and voters will take into account the opening rounds of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament.
The John R.Wooden All-American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round of the NCAA Tournament and the women's Late Season Top 20 list will be released at the end of this week. The John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. Previous winners include such notables as Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Larry Bird and Maya Moore.
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