Wright Among Wooden Award Preseason Top 50

Keith Wright averaged 14.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game as a junior (Gil Talbot).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Senior forward Keith Wright, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, is one of 50 players to be named as one of the preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden award, the nation's most coveted college basketball honor, as announced by The Los Angeles Athletic Club on ESPN.com.

Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball media members, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year's individual performance and team records, are the early frontunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.

Wright, who will serve as a co-captain of the Crimson again this season, was also tabbed to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District first team, as well as the Rush The Court All-Ivy Team.  After leading Harvard with 14.8 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per contest, he was also named the CollegeInsider Ivy League Player of the Year.

A native of Sullolk, Va., Wright was second in the Ivy League in 2010-11 with 12 double-doubles and finished second in the league in rebounding and third in scoring. Wright scored in double figures in 27 games and started all 30 contests for the Crimson during his junior campaign. He blocked 54 shots, which ranks second in school history for a single season and ranked 15th in the country with a shooting percentage of .584. In 14 Ivy League games, Wright averaged 15.4 ppg, 8.9 rpg and 2.1 bpg.

Wright helped Harvard to the winningest season in program history, as the team posted a 23-7 overall record, to go along with a 12-2 mark in conference play last year. The Crimson earned a share of the program's first Ivy title and received a berth in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the first time in school history.

About the John R. Wooden Award
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), Candace Parker ('07 and '08) and Maya Moore of Connecticut ('09 and '11). BYU's Jimmer Fredette won the men's Award in 2011.

candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WoodenAward.com.

2011-12 John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List, Men