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ESPN is taking steps to try to make the Wooden Award ceremony more like the annual Heisman Trophy presentation.
The award for the top men’s and women’s college basketball players, named after legendary late UCLA head coach John R. Wooden, will be revealed at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, April 10 at 9 p.m. E.T. on ESPNU, an ESPN spokesperson confirmed to Front Office Sports.
This represents a change from the past several years. Since 2019, the winners have been announced during the Final Four, and the ceremony the following weekend served as a platform to give the winners the awards that had already been revealed.
This year’s event—which marks the 50th anniversary of the Wooden Award—will be hosted by Sean Farnham and produced by Ross Production Services. Marques Johnson, who was its first winner, will present to the men’s recipient. The plan “as of now” is for Juju Watkins, who won the women’s award last year, to present it to this year’s winner, a source said. Her appearance has not been finalized.
The finalists for this year’s winners were announced Tuesday on ESPN2. The men’s finalists are Dariuss Acuff Jr. (Arkansas), Cameron Boozer (Duke), AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan) and Braden Smith (Purdue). On the women’s side, the finalists are Madison Booker (Texas), Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt), Azzi Fudd (UConn), Sarah Strong (UConn), and Lauren Betts (UCLA).
