Duke's Cooper Flagg and Auburn's Johni Broome headlined the Wooden Award's list of five finalists as well as the All-America team, both of which were announced on Tuesday night.
The award is given annually to the best college basketball player in the country. Flagg and Broome have been the perceived favorites for the Wooden Award since early in the season, with Broome starting the campaign with a dominant nonconference performance before Flagg made up ground with incredible performances in ACC play.
Flagg, the clear-cut leader to be the No. 1 pick in June's NBA draft, swept the ACC Player and Rookie of the Year. He's averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists while leading Duke to the program's first Final Four since Mike Krzyzewski retired. Flagg's signature performance came back in January, when he went for 42 points, six rebounds and seven assists in a win over Notre Dame, setting the ACC freshman record for points in a game.
After shaking off a late-season ankle injury that kept him out of the ACC tournament semifinal and title game, Flagg has been great in the NCAA tournament -- highlighted by a 30-point, 6-rebound, 7-assist performance against Arizona in the Sweet 16.
Broome was dominant to start the season, lifting Auburn to the No. 1 spot in the rankings with huge statline after huge statline. He had 23 points and 19 rebounds against North Carolina; 21 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa State; 21 points and 16 rebounds against Memphis; 20 points and 12 boards against Duke; 21 points and 20 rebounds against Ohio State; and 23 points and 11 rebounds against Purdue. All of those games happened in a one-month span.
He's averaging 18.7 points and 10.9 rebounds and just totaled 47 points and 30 rebounds in wins over Michigan and Michigan State to advance to the Final Four.
Flagg and Broome are joined as Wooden Award finalists by Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., Alabama's Mark Sears and Purdue's Braden Smith.
Clayton has been the best guard in the country over the last two months, leading Florida to its first Final Four appearance since 2014. He's averaging 18.1 points and 4.2 assists for the season but has scored at least 22 points in seven of his last nine games -- including 30 points in Florida's Elite Eight win over Texas Tech.
Sears was a preseason All-American entering the season and has lived up to the expectations, despite a couple of hiccups along the way. He finished the season averaging 18.6 points and 5.1 assists and had one of the best performances in NCAA tournament history in Alabama's Sweet 16 win over BYU. He finished with 34 points and eight assists, shooting 10-for-16 from 3-point range.
With Zach Edey in the NBA, Smith took on a greater responsibility within Purdue's offense, averaging career-highs in both scoring and assists. He averaged 15.8 points and finished the season ranked second in the country in assists, dishing out 8.7 per game.
The five additional players to be named to the Wooden Award All-America team were Houston's L.J. Cryer, Marquette's Kam Jones, Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, Tennessee's Chaz Lanier and Wisconsin's John Tonje.
The men's John R. Wooden Award has been given out every year since 1977, starting with UCLA star Marques Johnson. Purdue's Edey won it in each of the last two years, becoming only the second men's player to win the award twice, joining Ralph Sampson, who won it in 1982 and 1983.
