Kalkbrenner Named to Wooden Award's Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List - Creighton University Athletics

Kalkbrenner Named to Wooden Award’s Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List – Creighton University Athletics

Posted by Admin February 11, 2025 Basketball

By: Rob Anderson

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal® Late Season Top 20 Watch List today, and that list includes Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Selected by a panel of national college basketball experts, the list comprises 20 student-athletes who are front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball: the Wooden Award All-American Team and the Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player.

Players not selected for the late midseason list remain eligible for inclusion on the Wooden Award® National Ballot. The National Ballot will feature 15 top players who have demonstrated to their universities that they meet or exceed the Wooden Award® qualifications.

Kalkbrenner averages 19.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots per game for 24th-ranked Creighton (18-6, 11-2 BIG EAST). He leads the conference in blocks per game, defensive rebounds per game (6.13) and field goal percentage (.673) and also ranks among the league leaders in scoring (2nd), rebounding (2nd), offensive rebounds per game (4th).

The fifth-year senior from Florissant, Mo., ranks second in Creighton history in career points (2,213), blocked shots (370) and field goal percentage (.663). The Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year and a Preseason First Team All-American, Kalkbrenner has been named National Player of the Week three times this season. Last week the three-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year was named one of 15 players on the 2025 Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year Watch List, as well as one of 10 men in contention for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Watch List.

Kalkbrenner is Creighton’s third honoree named to the Late Season Top 20 Watch List by the Wooden Award, joining Marcus Foster in 2017-18 and Baylor Scheierman in 2023-24. That list began in 2014-15, one year after Doug McDermott became Creighton’s first recipient of the John R. Wooden Award®.

The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced during the week of the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight. The winners and the All Americans of the 2025 John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, will be honored at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, April 11, 2025.

About the John R. Wooden Award®

Created in 1976, the Los Angeles Athletic Club John R. Wooden Award Program™ represents the pinnacle of honors in college basketball. It recognizes the Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player for both men and women, the Wooden Award All-America™ Teams for both men and women, and annually selects the Wooden Award® Legend of Coaching recipient.

Wooden Award® All-Americans have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the standards of the John R. Wooden Award®, as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award® Steering Committee. These qualifications include progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA.

Previous recipients include legends such as 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 most recent winners, Caitlin Clark of Iowa (’23, ’24) and Zach Edey of Purdue (’23, ’24).

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award® has contributed nearly one million dollars in charitable gifts in the names of its All-American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Wooden Award All-Americans are invited to celebrate their personal charitable efforts, for which the John R. Wooden Award Foundation will make charitable gifts in support of the character of the student. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award® partners annually with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) to host the Wooden Award® Special Olympics Basketball Day. This event unites Special Olympics athletes with Wooden Award® All-Americans and coaches during Wooden Award® Weekend at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

The 2025 Wooden Award® Legends of Coaching honoree is Mark Few of Gonzaga, who will receive his award alongside the 2025 Wooden Award® Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year on April 11, 2025.

For the latest updates, visit www.WoodenAward.com and follow the Wooden Award® on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward, and on Twitter and Instagram at @WoodenAward.