The Los Angeles Athletic Club named former Liberty County basketball player and current Tennessee star Jordan McRae on its preseason top-50 list, according to utsports.com.
The announcement was made Tuesday.
The report said the selection was made by a preseason poll of national college-basketball experts. The list pics the 50 student-athletes who are early front runners for the Wooden Award.
McRae, a senior wing on the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team, recently was chosen to the Southeastern Conference preseason all-league team and was the second-leading vote-getter for the league’s preseason player of the year, according to the report. He also is one of 30 players who are candidates for the Senior CLASS Award.
Teammate Jarnell Stokes also is on the list. Tennessee is one of 11 colleges with more than one player on the list.
The report said the players on the Wooden Award preseason top-50 list are considered strong candidates for the midseason list and the official voting ballot, which will consist of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 grade-point average.
The Wooden Award All-American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in late March.