Cooper Flagg, Paige Bueckers Headline MCBB, WCBB Wooden Award Midseason Top-25 Lists

Timothy RappJan 7, 2025

The Wooden Award released its midseason top-25 list for the men's and women's college basketball season on Tuesday, highlighted by Duke's Cooper Flagg, Auburn's Johni Broome and Rutgers' Dylan Harper on the men's side and UConn's Paige Bueckers, USC's JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and UCLA's Lauren Betts in the women's game.

Rutgers was the only school in the men's game with more than one player listed (Harper, AC Bailey), while UConn (Bueckers, Sarah Strong), USC (Watkins, Kiki Iriafen), Notre Dame (Hidalgo, Olivia Miles), TCU (Sedona Prince, Hailey Van Lith) and LSU (Flau'Jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow) each had two players on the women's list.

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Flagg has impressed on a number of levels as a freshman, averaging 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks coming into Tuesday night. He's the favorite to be the top overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Harper, a fellow freshman who will be in the running for the top overall selection himself, is averaging 21.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists this season.

Finally, Broome has been dominant down on the block for the Tigers, averaging 18.6 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.7 blocks this season. The fifth-year senior has made a major impact on both ends.

On the women's side, Bueckers is the biggest star in college basketball and has continued to live up to the hype, averaging 19.9 points and four assists per game for the 13-2 Huskies.

Watkins is going to give her a run for her money when it comes to the Wooden Award, however. The sophomore is cooking this season, averaging 25.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season, and has all the makings of the next huge star in women's basketball.

Hidalgo, also a sophomore, has arguably been even better, posting 25.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest. And Betts, a junior, has been a double-double machine, averaging 19.8 points, 10 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. Like Broome, she's been a force on both ends of the court.