Flagg, Broome heading Wooden Award top 15

• Jeff BorzelloMar 8, 2025, 11:35 AM ET Close Basketball recruiting insider.

• Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.Duke freshman Cooper

Flagg and Auburn star Johni Broome headlined the players called to the Wooden Award top 15 nationwide ballot Saturday morning, as exposed on ESPN’s “College GameDay. “Flagg, the former No. 1 recruit and projected No. 1 choice in the 2025 NBA draft, gets in the final weekend of the regular season as the viewed front-runner for the award. He has actually created among the best freshman seasons of all time while leading Duke to a most likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.After producing standout performances early in the season

against Kentucky, Arizona and Auburn, Flagg has actually been even better in ACC play. Heading into the regular-season ending against North Carolina, he ranks 2nd in the ACC in scoring(21.5 PPG), 10th in rebounding (7.0 RPG)and seventh in assists (4.3 APG )in conference play.In seven games in January, Flagg

averaged 25.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists while shooting 57.9%from the field and 42.9% from 3-point variety. He set an ACC freshman record with 42 points against Notre Dame in January and has scored a minimum of 20 points on 13 occasions, likewise ranking in the top 3 nationally in multiple defensive performance metrics.Editor’s Picks

If Flagg were to win, he would be just the fourth freshman to declare the award, following Kevin Durant (2007 ), Anthony Davis (2012) and Zion Williamson (2019 ).

Broome appeared like the clear favorite for the Wooden Award after 2 months of the season, averaging 18.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.7 blocks through 15 games for top-ranked Auburn. He consistently produced enormous efficiencies in the Tigers’ greatest nonconference games, putting up 20 points and 9 rebounds versus Houston, 21 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa State, 20 points and 12 rebounds against Duke, 21 points and 20 rebounds against Ohio State and 23 points and 11 rebounds against Purdue.He then suffered an ankle injury versus South Carolina on Jan. 11, eventually missing just 2 games but slowing his momentum. Broome is still balancing 18.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.4 blocks regardless of back-to-back single-digit scoring efforts in the first 2 games of this month.Other leading prospects include Purdue’s Braden Smith, who ranks second in the nation in helps and has actually been the very best guard in the nation this season; Alabama’s Mark Sears, the veteran guard balancing 28.0 points and 5.6 assists over his previous 5 games; and Wisconsin’s John Tonje, arguably the best transfer in the country after a recent nine-game stretch in which he put up 24.8 points per game.Three players on the leading 15 nationwide tally weren’t on the late midseason top

20 list revealed in mid-February: Houston’s L.J. Cryer, Tonje and Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler. Tennessee is the only team with several players on the tally, with the Volunteers represented by Zeigler and Chaz Lanier.The guys’s Wooden Award has been offered every year considering that 1977, starting with UCLA’s Marques Johnson.Complete nationwide ballot for the 2025

John R. Wooden Award: Johni Broome, Auburn Walter Clayton Jr., Florida L.J. Cryer, Houston Hunter Dickinson, Kansas Eric Dixon, Villanova Cooper Flagg, Duke PJ Haggerty, Memphis Dylan Harper, Rutgers Kam Jones, Marquette Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton Chaz Lanier, Tennessee Mark Sears, Alabama Braden Smith, Purdue John Tonje, Wisconsin Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee