John R. Wooden and Basketball Hall of Fame Awards Handed Out

• Villanova’s Jalen Brunson wins big
• Two-time finalist A’ja Wilson of South Carolina claims women’s top honors

College basketball’s top coaches and players past and present spent one last night honoring the season that was, tonight. The College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s televised live on ESPN2 from The Novo by Microsoft at L.A. Live saw eight prestigious, end-of-season awards presented to basketball’s very best during the 90-minute telecast.

With the ESPN College GameDay Built by State Farm crew of Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams joined by reporter Molly McGrath, the celebratory special reviewed the season’s highlights, honored the legendary coach John R. Wooden in an entertaining ‘whiteboard animation’ feature, and enjoyed yet another visit to ABC’s General Hospital, this time by Oklahoma’s Trae Young and South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson along with Jay Williams.

The College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s – in coordination with the Los Angeles Athletic Club and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – included the exclusive presentation of the John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s, John R. Wooden Award Women’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s, as well as five honors created and managed by the Basketball Hall of Fame: Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award, Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

Hall of Famers Abdul-Jabbar, Erving, Malone and West presented their named awards while Ann Meyers Drysdale reflected on the life of Coach Wooden. Chiney Ogwumike handed out the women’s Wooden Award. In addition, this year’s John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award recipient, Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright, took the stage after a touching introduction by his former player Randy Foye who, among other things, credited him with giving him the courage and support to overcome his fear of public speaking.

The winners:

• Villanova’s Jalen Brunson added John R. Wooden Men’s Player of the Year and Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year hardware to his NCAA Championship trophy earned earlier in the week.
• South Carolina’s career scoring (2,389) and blocks (363) leader A’ja Wilson claimed the John R. Wooden Women’s Player of the Year Award.
• Carsen Edwards of Purdue earned the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award for his late-season, Big Ten-best 21.9 points per game average and his season-long 45.8 field goal percentage.
• Villanova’s Mikal Bridges received Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year honors for a season that saw him score 17.7 points per game with a 51.4 field goal percentage.
• Pac-12 Player of the Year and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, took home the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award for a conference-leading 11.6 rebounds per game and the most double-doubles (24) in school history.
• On his second try in two years, Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado claimed the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award in a season that saw him become the first player in an NCAA Tournament game to score 24 points, 23 rebounds and 5 assists since assists became official in 1983-84.

College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s Winners

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