2015 Wooden Award Finalists Include Frank Kaminsky, Jahlil Okafor

The Wooden Award, college basketball's most prestigious Player of the Year trophy, has announced the 15 finalists who will compete to win the honor in 2015. 

As you would expect, the full list of candidates released on Saturday on the Wooden Award website is headlined by Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky and Duke center Jahlil Okafor. 

Here's the full list of contenders:

Player	Team
Ron Baker	Wichita State
Malcolm Brogdon	Virginia
Willie Cauley-Stein	Kentucky
Rakeem Christmas	Syracuse
Jerian Grant	Notre Dame
Tyler Haws	BYU
Buddy Hield	Oklahoma
Frank Kaminsky	Wisconsin
Georges Niang	Iowa State
Jahlil Okafor	Duke
Bobby Portis	Arkansas
D'Angelo Russell	Ohio State
Seth Tuttle	Northern Iowa
Kyle Wiltjer	Gonzaga
Delon Wright	Utah

Even though that is a star-laden list, the race for the award is between Kaminsky and Okafor. In most years a player like Kyle Wiltjer would be a strong contender, averaging 16.5 point per game and shooting 53 percent from the floor for a 29-2 Gonzaga team. 

It's a testament to how good Okafor and Kaminsky have been that everyone else seems to be fighting for third place. Kaminsky seems to have pulled ahead as the season has gone along, with his penultimate performance of the regular season against Minnesota showcasing everything he does, via ESPN's Jeff Goodman:

After that game, Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino said he had no doubt Kaminsky deserved the Wooden Award, via Wisconsin Basketball:

On a pure statistical level, Kaminsky and Okafor have had nearly-identical seasons. The Wisconsin star is averaging 18.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Duke's fabulous freshman averages 17.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. 

Kaminsky has the advantage of being a more versatile player, able to play in the paint or shoot from outside. Okafor is a pure center and plays it as well as anyone in the country. 

It's going to be an interesting, fascinating race for the Wooden Award. Kaminsky and Okafor have compelling cases and each has a marquee regular-season finale to sway voters in their favor.