Zach Edey, Hunter Dickinson Headline 2023-24 Men's CBB Wooden Award Ballot

Purdue center Zach Edey, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson and Duke center Kyle Filipowski highlighted the ballot for this year's men's John R. Wooden Award, given to the most outstanding college basketball player of the season.

Edey won the award in the 2022-23 campaign and could become the first back-to-back winner since David Sampson in the early 80s.

The full ballot also includes Auburn's Johni Broome, North Carolina's RJ Davis, Dayton's DaRon Holmes II, Tennessee's Dalton Knecht, Marquette's Tyler Kolek, San Diego State's Jaedon LeDee, Arizona's Caleb Love, UConn's Tristen Newton, Kentucky's Antonio Reeves, Alabama's Mark Sears, Dickinson's teammate at Kansas, Kevin McCullar Jr., and Houston's Jamal Shead.

Edey, a senior, is having another superb season. He's second in men's college basketball in scoring (24.1 PPG), third in rebounding (11.7 RPG) and tied for 19th in blocks (2.2 BPG). all while shooting an impressive 62.3 percent from the floor and leading Purdue to a 27-3 record and a regular-season Big Ten title.

He feels like the prohibitive favorite to repeat as the player of the year, and for good reason—he's posted seven games this season with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds.

Dickinson, also a senior, can't boast the same level of counting stats, though he's still putting up an excellent 18.8 points, 11 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game for the 22-8 Jayhawks.

Filipowski, a sophomore, has posted 16.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from three for the 24-6 Blue Devils.

Tennessee's Knecht arguably isn't as big of a name as the trio of centers, but he very well might be the runner-up for the award, averaging 20.7 points per game this season while shooting an impressive 40.6 percent from three.

And Kolek leads the nation in assists (7.6 APG) and has added a cool 15 points per game.