McGhee Selected to 2022-23 Wooden Award Watch List
11/15/2022 1:02:48 PM | Men's Basketball
2022-23 John R. Wooden Award® Presented by Wendy’s® Preseason Top 50 Watch List
Darius McGhee of the Liberty men’s basketball team has been selected to the 2022-23 John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® Preseason Top 50 Watch List.
The list was announced today on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com and was also highlighted during ESPN’s coverage of the Champions Classic.
Picked by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list consists of 50 student-athletes who are the early frontrunners for the most prestigious awards in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.
“This is just another deposit in the Darius McGhee piggy bank. He’s a young man that really deserves all the accolades because of his humility and ability,” said Liberty Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ritchie McKay. “I’m excited for Darius and our program that he can be mentioned in the same breath as some of these elite players from elite programs.”
Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 38 are upperclassmen, including 24 seniors. The Preseason Top 50 represents 14 conferences, with the ACC leading all leagues with 10 selections. McGhee is the one player from the ASUN Conference on the listing.
This is the second major preseason watch list McGhee has been named to so far this year. The redshirt senior guard was selected to the 2023 Bob Cousy Award Watch List, announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Oct. 24.
McGhee is the 2022-23 ASUN Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year for a Liberty squad which is voted to finish first in the league in both the coaches poll and media poll. The Roxboro, N.C. native is the back-to-back ASUN Player of the Year (2020-21, 2021-22). Last year, McGhee was tabbed to the 2021-22 Lou Henson All-America team and was a Lou Henson Player of the Year finalist. Last season, McGhee averaged 24.6 points per game (No. 2 in nation) and led Division I men’s basketball in three-pointers made with 142, setting a school record in the process.
Also a NABC District 3 first team selection a year ago, McGhee ranked second in the country in total points (812), and earned several other honors, including: VaSID Player of the Year, ASUN All-Conference first team, ASUN All-Tournament team and VaSID All-State first team
McGhee (17.3 ppg) is the Flames’ leading scorer through three games this season and is knocking down 52.2 percent (12-of-23) of his three-point attempts in the early going. The redshirt senior is also averaging 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game. McGhee is currently second among active Division I players in career three pointers with 378 and fifth in total points with 1,916.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2023 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list and the National Ballot. The National Ballot is comprised of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games.
The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2023 John R. Wooden Award will be presented in Los Angeles in April
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All America Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), and last year’s recipients, Aliyah Boston of South Carolina and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
The Legends of Coaching Award will be presented along with the Wooden Award Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year on April 7, 2023. For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
