The race for national player of the year has been a topic of intense and persistent conversation for much of the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season, with Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Auburn’s Johni Broome neck-and-neck for the sport’s most prestigious honor.
On Saturday, the rest of the field for that distinction was set.
Flagg and Broome headline the list of 15 men’s players who is on the ballot for the John R. Wooden Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding men’s and women’s college basketball players.
The award is widely expected to end up in the hands of Flagg or Broome, both of whom have separated themselves from the thousands of other Division I players nationally over the past four months.
Flagg, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, is piecing together one of the best seasons by a freshman in college basketball history. He’s averaging 19.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 49.7% from the field and 38.2% from 3-point range. In ACC play, his scoring average has jumped to 21.5 points per game.
Hed would become just the fourth freshman to ever earn the Wooden Award, joining Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson.
If he doesn’t join that exclusive club, it would be because of a similarly stellar season from Broome, the best player on what has been the No. 1 team in the country for much of the season. A Morehead State transfer, Broome is averaging 18 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, making him one of 11 Division I players averaging a double-double.
Broome was the front-runner for national player of the year for much of the season, but missed two games with an ankle injury and hasn’t been as productive of late, with a combined 17 points and 13 rebounds in Auburn’s past two games.
With Flagg and Broome leading the way, here’s a look at the Wooden Award ballot, with the players listed in alphabetical order:
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
L.J. Cryer, Houston
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Cooper Flagg, Duke
PJ Haggerty, Memphis
Dylan Harper, Rutgers
Kam Jones, Marquette
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Mark Sears, Alabama
Braden Smith, Purdue
John Tonje, Wisconsin
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
