Nevada sophomore Luke Babbitt was named to the preseason top 50 candidate list for the John R. Wooden Award All-American team and Player of the Year trophy.
Babbitt, a 6-9, 225-pound forward from Galena High, was named the 2009 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year last season after leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 16.9 points and 7.4 boards per game. An all-district selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the United States Basketball Writers Association, he ranked second among the nation's freshmen in scoring last year. He finished third in the WAC in scoring and rebounding and led the league in free throw shooting. Babbitt also set nearly every Wolf Pack freshman single-season record, including scoring with 573 total points.
The list is comprised of 50 student athletes who, based on last year's individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.
This year marks the fourth time in five years that Nevada has had a player on the preseason list for this prestigious award with Marcelus Kemp making the list in 2007-08 and Nick Fazekas in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Fazekas was named to the final ballot for the Wooden Award in each of those years and in 2006-07, he was named one of 10 Wooden Award All-Americans and finished eighth in the final voting for the award.