Kilpatrick, Cooper, Craft and Thomas named to John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List

Published Nov. 9, 2012 10:43 a.m. ET

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CINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati junior guard Sean Kilpatrick has been named to the John R. Wooden Award List Preseason Top 50 the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced through ESPN.com on Thursday. Kilpatrick, who was tabbed a preseason BIG EAST Conference first team selection by the league’s coaches in October, ranks seventh among returning BIG EAST scorers (14.3 points per game) after leading the league in three-pointer made with 2.49 per game last season. The Yonkers, N.Y., native was named a second team All-BIG EAST Conference selection last season. He scored in double figures in 29 of UC’s 37 games and tallied 528 points last season – the second most in a single-season at UC during the Mick Cronin era. He posted a career-high 27 points in a 68-64 win at then-No. 11 Georgetown  (1/9/12) and scored a team-high 16 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left, in a 70-67 UC win at then No. 13 Connecticut (1/18/12). Kilpatrick is one of seven BIG EAST Conference players named to the award’s preseason Top 50 along with Louisville’s Chane Behanan, Gorgui Dieng and Peyton Siva as well as Notre Dame’s Jack Cooley, Providence’s Vincent Council and Georgetown’s Otto Porter. 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), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ‘11). Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis won the men’s Award in 2012. Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the Preseason Top 50. The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the midseason list and the official voting ballot, both of which are open to freshman and transfer students. 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, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The 37th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, which in 2013 will go to Kansas Head Coach Bill Self. The event will take place the weekend of April 12-13, 2013. The complete John R. Wooden Award List Preseason Top 50 list follows:

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