LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los Angeles Athletic Club has announced that Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner is one of 50 men named to the Preseason Top 50 Watch List for the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal®. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2025 John R. Wooden Award® Men’s Player ofthe Year. 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 Tournament 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 2025 John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, will be presented at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in April.
This is Kalkbrenner’s third consecutive recognition on the Preseason John R. Wooden Award Watch List, as he joins 2014 Wooden Award winner Doug McDermott (2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14) as Bluejay Basketball’s only three-time Preseason Watch List honorees. Besides Kalkbrenner’s three recognitions, other Bluejays to make the Preseason list under Greg McDermott are Baylor Scheierman (2022-23 and 2023-24), Trey Alexander (2023-24), Marcus Zegarowski (2020-21), Ty-Shon Alexander (2019-20), Marcus Foster (2017-18) and Maurice Watson Jr. (2016-17). Creighton now owns 13 Preseason John R. Wooden Award Watch List recognitions in 15 seasons under McDermott.
Kalkbrenner is one of 17 repeat Preseason Wooden Award selections from a year ago, but one of just four men to make the Preseason List each of the past three years along with Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), Jeremy Roach (Baylor) and RJ Davis (North Carolina).
A Florissant, Mo., native, Kalkbrenner starts his fifth season with lofty expectations after averaging 17.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots per game last season. A year ago he was named Second Team All-BIG EAST and became the third player in league history to be a three-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, joining Alonzo Mourning and Patrick Ewing.
The preseason buzz has ramped up heading into 2024-25 as he’s been named Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year and a First Team Preseason All-American by CBS Sports, FOX Sports and Field of 68. He remains the only player in program history to earn multiple Preseason First Team All-BIG EAST accolades, having done so three times. Kalkbrenner also owns Creighton records in NCAA Tournament play for wins played in, points, blocks, field goals and games played in, as CU has made three trips to the Sweet 16 or beyond in his first four seasons. He opened his senior season on Nov. 6 with a career-high 49 points, adding 11 rebounds and three blocks, while making 20-of-22 shots from the field.
Last week Kalkbrenner was named to the National Player of the Year Watch Lists for the NABC Division I Player of the Year, the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Watch List.
Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 41 are upperclassmen, including 22 seniors & 19 juniors, and two are graduate students. Two sophomores were named to the list and the recent trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with five named to the Preseason Top 50.
Creighton returns to the floor on Sunday at 4 p.m. when it hosts FDU.
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the Los Angeles Athletic Club 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 America™ Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award® Legend of Coaching recipient. Wooden Award® All Americans 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. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant
(’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Breanna Stewart (’15; ’16), and the last two year’s (’23 &’24) recipients, Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Zach Edey of Purdue.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award® has made charitable gifts of nearly one million dollars 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 basketball day. The event 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.
John R. Wooden Award® Men’s Preseason Top 50
Name, School, Year
KJ Adams Kansas SR
Robbie Avila Saint Louis JR
Ace Bailey Rutgers FR
Ace Baldwin Penn State JR
Oumar Ballo Indiana GR
Johni Broome Auburn SR
Walter Clayton Jr. Florida JR
LJ Cryer Houston SR
Johnell Davis Arkansas SR
RJ Davis # North Carolina SR
Tyson Degenhart Boise State JR
Tucker DeVries West Virginia SR
Hunter Dickinson ## Kansas GR
Eric Dixon Villanova SR
VJ Edgecomb Baylor FR
Cooper Flagg Duke FR
Dawson Garcia Minnesota SR
Dylan Harper Rutgers FR
Dajuan Harris Kansas JR
Coleman Hawkins Kansas State SR
Bryce Hopkins Providence JR
Josh Hubbard Mississippi St. SO
Graham Ike Gonzaga SR
Kam Jones Marquette SR
Ryan Kalkbrenner Creighton SR
Alex Karaban UConn JR
Yaxel Lendeborg UAB SO
Tamin Lipsey Iowa State JR
Caleb Love # Arizona SR
Augustas Marciulionis St. Mary’s SR
Liam McNeeley UConn FR
Matthew Murrell Ole Miss SR
Grant Nelson Alabama SR
Ryan Nembhard Gonzaga JR
Norchad Omier Baylor SR
Cliff Omoruyi Alabama SR
Great Osobor Washington JR
Tyrese Proctor Duke JR
Kadary Richmond St. John’s SR
Jeremy Roach Baylor SR
J’Wan Roberts Houston SR
Jaxson Robinson Kentucky JR
Hunter Sallis Wake Forest JR
Payton Sandfort Iowa JR
Mark Sears Alabama SR
Braden Smith Purdue JR
AJ Storr Kansas JR
Wade Taylor IV Texas A&M JR
Bruce Thornton Ohio State JR
Zakai Zeigler Tennessee JR
# indicates player selected as a 2023-24 Wooden Award All American
## indicates player selected as a 2020-21 and 2023-24 Wooden Award All American
