SAN DIEGO – San Diego State senior guard Matt Bradley is one of the early favorites to earn the 2023 John R. Wooden Award which recognizes the best men's basketball player in the nation. The Los Angeles Athletic Club made the announcement Tuesday.
Bradley, a 6-4, 220-pound guard, who transferred to The Mesa prior to last season, has earned inclusion on the Wooden Award watch list for the second year in a row.
In 2021-22, Bradley was one of nine players in the nation, and just the second Aztec since the start of the 1996-97 campaign, to shoot at least 43.8 percent from the floor, with a minimum of 425 shot attempts, and 40.1 percent from the bonus distance with a minimum of 142 attempts from beyond the arc.
Last year's Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and a first-team All-Mountain West performer averaged a team-high 16.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game in his first season in America's Finest City to lead the Aztecs to as 23-9 overall record and a No. 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the watch list is composed of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the highest individual honor in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team and Most Outstanding Player Award. Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 38 are upperclassmen, including 24 seniors, among them Bradley.
Bradley, a preseason All-Mountain West honoree, is the only player in the Mountain West to be included on the Wooden Award and the Basketball Hall of Fame Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award watch lists, which he was included on two weeks ago, he is one of 11 players to appear on both lists.
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 consists 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 2022 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy's following the NCAA Tournament 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 American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legends 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.
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.