LOS ANGELES – Penn State men's basketball senior guard Jalen Pickett is one of 15 players on the 2023 Men's National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award, as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club Saturday morning on ESPN's College Gameday.
Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All-American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding college basketball player in the United States.
Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points (18.1) per game, seven rebounds per game (7.3) and seven assists (7.0) per game. Only one men's college basketball player in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) has finished the season averaging 18/7/7. Michigan State's Denzel Valentine finished the 2015-16 season averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game en route to AP National Player of the Year accolades.
Pickett ranks in the top five nationally in both assists per game (7.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.32) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks third nation in fewest turnovers per game (8.7) and 13th in effective field goal percentage (.560).
The six-foot-four guard has played his best in Big Ten play, averaging 19.3 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game and 6.5 assists per game. Pickett and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis are the only two Big Ten players that rank in the top 10 of the conference statistical standings in scoring, rebounding and assists. Pickett ranks fourth in scoring, ninth in rebounding and first in assists.
The Rochester, N.Y. native's season highlights include a 41-point game, a 32-point game, 12 20-point games, six double-doubles and one triple-double. He has already set a Penn State single-season assists record through 30 games this season, dishing 209 assists to this point.
Pickett has put together a historic collegiate career as the only Division I men's college basketball player in AT LEAST the last 37 years to have accumulated marks of 2,000+ career points, 700+ career rebounds and 800+ career assists. Pickett currently owns career marks of 2,095 points, 725 rebounds and 807 assists.
All balloted players have been certified by their university to meet or exceed the qualifications for the Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden when the Award was established. The qualifications include: candidates must exhibit strength of character, both on and off the court; candidates must be full-time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; candidates must be making progress toward graduation and have a cumulative 2.00 grade point average since enrolling in their school; candidates must contribute to team effort; candidates must excel in both offense and defense; and candidates should be considered on their performance over the course of the entire season.
Voting will take place from March 13th to March 20th, and voters take into consideration a player's entire season of play, as well as the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The finalists for the 2023 Wooden Award presented by Wendy's will be announced on March 29th. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Kevin Durant ('07), and last year's recipient, Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky.
2023 Men's John R. Wooden Award National Ballot
Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Zach Edey, Purdue
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA
Keyontae Johnson, Kansas State
Mike Miles Jr., TCU
Kris Murray, Iowa
Jalen Pickett, Penn State
Marcus Sasser, Houston
Drew Timme, Gonzaga
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
Azuolas Tubelis, Arizona
Jalen Wilson, Kansas
Isaiah Wong, Miami
