The John R. Wooden Award is one of the more coveted prizes in college basketball. Perhaps the most coveted. It goes to the nation’s most outstanding player.

At this point in the 2024-25 campaign, Duke guard Cooper Flagg and Auburn big man Johni Broome stick out as two leading favorites to capture the hardware.

Flagg is providing the Blue Devils with elite two-way play, as he’s averaging 19.8 points while shooting 48.5% from the field to go along with 1.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per contest.

As for Broome, he has been nothing short of a double-double machine for the top-ranked Tigers. Broome has been particularly productive of late, scoring double digits in points in his last seven contests.

CBS Sports’ Cameron Salerno and Isaac Trotter weighed in on whether Broome has closed the gap on Flagg in the race for the NPOY and offered contrasting takes.

Salerno sells the idea that Broome has caught up to Flagg and believes that the latter has all but won the prestigious award.

“Sell. Let me start by saying Broome is an amazing player. Broome and Duke’s Cooper Flagg have been the two best players in the sport this season, and either would deserve the nod. But the NPOY race is over, barring something drastic happening in the next few weeks. The award was Flagg’s to lose once Broome missed time with an unfortunate ankle injury. Flagg has been on a tear lately and has exceeded the preseason hype generated when he enrolled at Duke as a 17-year-old freshman. We saw Flagg and Broome face off earlier this season at Cameron Indoor Stadium. College basketball fans should hope for a rematch between these players and teams sometime in April,” Salerno wrote.

Meanwhile, Trotter thinks Broome has made some headway, even if he also asserts that Flagg would win the award if the season ended now.

“Buy. Broome has certainly closed the gap and it’s reflected in both the betting markets and KenPom’s National Player of the Year projections. Flagg would be the deserving pick if the season ended today — thankfully, it does not — but if Broome keeps balling for an all-time Auburn team that finds a way to win the strongest conference in the history of the sport, the momentum will continue to grow. Flagg is still No. 1 now, but it’s getting closer and closer,” Trotter wrote.

It should be interesting to follow the race for the NPOY in the coming days and weeks between two of the top talents in the country.