Oct. 4, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Oct. 4, 2010 - The top scorer and third leader in assists among Big Ten returners this season, Penn State guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) was named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list for the second straight season Monday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Battle, whose 2009-10 averages of 18.5 points and 4.2 assists per game rank first and third among Big Ten returners, was one of a nation's high 10 Big Ten players named to the preseason list for the prestigious national player of the year award. The ACC had eight players and the Big East and Big 12 seven players each on the list.
Battle is among four senior starters returning for their final campaign for Penn State. He was one of two NCAA Division I players to average at least 18.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 4.0 apg last season. The two-time All-Big Ten selection stands just 613 points shy of eclipsing Penn State's 55-year-old career scoring mark of 2,138 set by All-American Jesse Arnelle in 1955. He needs just 25 rebounds to become the first Penn State player ever to log at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists on a career and can join Arnelle as the only players to lead the Nittany Lions in scoring in four straight seasons.
The only player among the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Pac-10, Big 12 or Big East to lead his team in total points, rebounds, assists and steals last year, Battle brings 30 career 20-point outings and six double-doubles into his senior season. He can place is name at the top or among the top five of 11 major Penn State career statistical categories and finish his career as the most prolific rebounding guard in Nittany Lion annals.
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), Blake Griffin ('09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut ('09). Ohio State's Evan Turner and Connecticut's Tina Charles won the Award in 2010.
The Top 50 list will be cut down to a midseason list in December and the official voting ballot will be released in March. The National Ballot consists of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least 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 35th annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, will take place the weekend of April 8-10, 2011.
-NITTANY LIONS-