Kevin Love Added To Wooden All-American Midseason Watch-List

By Bruin Basketball Report

UCLA freshman center Kevin Love was named a John R. Wooden Award 2007-08 Midseason Top 30 Candidate.

Love is averaging 17.3 points on 59.0% field goal shooting and 11.3 rebounds. The former Lake Oswego HS star has helped key the Bruins to a 18-2, 6-1 record and first place in the Pac-10 conference.

Eleven players selected to the midseason Top 30 were not on the preseason list. This group includes returning players enjoying breakout seasons (Brian Roberts of Dayton, Raymar Morgan of Michigan State, Wayne Ellington of North Carolina, Luke Harangody of Notre Dame and Sam Young of Pittsburgh), and freshmen James Harden of Arizona State, Eric Gordon of Indiana, Michael Beasley of Kansas State, Derrick Rose of Memphis, O.J. Mayo of USC, and Love of UCLA.

“This was another year where a lot of players have been surprises,” said Duke Llewellyn, Wooden Award chairman. “Players across the nation stepped up and made a case for themselves, whether they were veteran players or freshmen. We look forward to continuing to follow these talented players as we determine the 10 candidates for the Wooden Award All-American Team.”

Players who do not make the Midseason list are still eligible for the national ballot, which will be selected in March and will consist of approximately 20 players, chosen by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board Committee, who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA

The Pac-10 (7 players) has the most players chosen to the Wooden Midseason Top 30, followed by the ACC with 5, Big 12 with four, the SEC Big East, and Big 10 with three each, Conference USA with two, and the Atlantic 10, Southern and Metro Atlantic Athletic each with one.

The 2008 Award ceremony will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of April 11-12.

Both UCLA 's Darren Collison and Josh Shipp had been named as top 50 preseason candidates but were not named on the midseason watchlist.

Complete top 30 candidates list

D.J. Augustin, So, Texas
Michael Beasley, Fr, Kansas State
Jon Brockman, Jr, Washington
Chase Budinger So, Arizona
Mario Chalmers, Jr, Kansas
Stephen Curry, So, Davidson
Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jr, Memphis
Wayne Ellington, So, North Carolina
Shan Foster, Sr, Vanderbilt
Eric Gordon, Fr, Indiana
Jamont Gordon, Jr, Mississippi State
Malik Hairston, Sr, Oregon
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, North Carolina
Luke Harangody, So, Notre Dame
James Harden, Fr, Arizona State
Roy Hibbert, Sr, Georgetown
Chris Lofton, Sr, Tennessee
Kevin Love, Fr, UCLA
Derrick Low, Sr, Washington State
O.J. Mayo, Fr, USC
Raymar Morgan, So, Michigan State
Demarcus Nelson, Sr, Duke
Tyrese Rice, Jr, Boston College
Brian Roberts, Sr, Dayton
Derrick Rose, Fr, Memphis
Brandon Rush, Jr, Kansas
Sean Singletary, Sr, Virginia
Jason Thompson, Sr, Rider
D.J. White, Sr, Indiana
Sam Young, Jr, Pittsburgh