March 18, 2011 — Morehead State senior Kenneth Faried has been named a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, which encompasses the Top 20 candidates for one of college basketball’s most prestigious awards.
Faried, who already received his second consecutive OVC Player of the Year and third straight OVC Defensive Player of Year honors, led MSU to its second OVC Tournament championship in the last three years. He has already been named to four different All-American teams, which include U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Fox Sports, Yahoo, and Sports Illustrated.
He established the NCAA modern-era (post-1973) career rebounding record earlier this season. He enters the NCAA Tournament with 1,643 career boards and is ranked 11th on the NCAA career list for all players. He is chasing former MSU standout and athletic director Steve Hamilton, who had 1,675, for 10th on that list and for first in MSU history.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Blake Griffin (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09). Ohio State’s Evan Turner and Connecticut’s Tina Charles won the Award in 2010.
The National Ballot consists of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round during the NCAA Tournament, making it unique among college postseason awards.
The 35th annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, a special tribute to Coach Wooden and Wooden Award founder Duke Llewellyn, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, will take place the weekend of April 8-10, 2011.
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