The theme of this year’s national player of the year race seems clear: youth vs. experience.
Duke star Cooper Flagg, the consensus projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, joins North Carolina star RJ Davis, the reigning ACC player of the year, and 40 other upperclassmen on the men’s basketball Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watchlist, which was announced on Thursday.
Flagg, a 6-foot-9 standout whom LeBron James has called a future face of the NBA, began his collegiate career with an 18-point effort in Duke’s 96-62 win over Maine on Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Rutgers’ Ace Bailey, another projected lottery pick, Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe and UConn’s Liam McNeeley were the other freshmen on the list. But the 41 upperclassmen features players like Kansas star Hunter Dickinson, one of four Jayhawks on the preseason top 50 list.
Alabama’s Mark Sears, UConn’s Alex Karaban, Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and Arizona’s Caleb Love were also selected.
While the preseason list features the early candidates to win the prestigious honor, players can be added and removed over the course of the season. In one of the more memorable Wooden Award battles in recent memory, former Indiana star Victor Oladipo failed to make the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list during the 2012-13 season but he finished second to then-Michigan star Trey Burke.
The sport will have its first new winner in two years after former Purdue star Zach Edey won the Wooden Award in both 2023 and 2024.
Flagg’s debut has been one of the most anticipated debuts for a freshman since Zion Williamson’s lone season during the 2018-19 campaign. The freshman will have to overcome a fleet of talented veterans — and history — to secure the honor this season. Flagg has a chance to become just the fourth men’s basketball player to win the Wooden Award as a freshman. Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Williamson are the only freshmen who’ve won the honor as freshmen.
During a recent interview with ESPN, Flagg said he’s focused on this year’s team goals, but he also admitted that securing the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft would be meaningful to him.
“Obviously, that’s a dream,” he said. “That’s something I’m trying to work toward every single day. It would mean a lot, obviously, it would be a blessing. But, I mean, that’s not really my main focus. I think, for me, it’s just about getting better every single day for my teammates and for myself and trying to win every single day and I think all of that other stuff will work itself out.”
