MSU's Cassius Winston, UNC's Cole Anthony Headline 2020 Wooden Award Watch List

The John R. Wooden Award revealed Tuesday the 50 players making up the preseason watch list ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. 

Michigan State's Cassius Winston, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, is among those considered, as are Memphis' James Wiseman and North Carolina's Cole Anthony, who were the No. 1 and 4 overall players, respectively, in the 2019 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Zion Williamson captured the Wooden Award in what proved to be his only year at Duke in 2018-19, but he's largely an exception to the rule. Since the award was introduced for 1976-77, only three freshmen have received the honor (Williamson, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant).

But Williamson's win showed the voting panel will recognize the contributions of first-year players, which leaves the door wide open for Wiseman and Anthony. The inclusions of Georgia's Anthony Edwards and Washington's Isaiah Stewart, who were the second- and third-ranked recruits in 2019, illustrates how the spotlight continues to shine brightly on freshmen phenoms.

Winston arguably opens as the early favorite, though. 

The Spartans guard has improved over each of his first three seasons in East Lansing and averaged 18.8 points and 7.5 assists a year ago. Michigan State opened as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press' Top 25 poll, and Winston is bound to receive a lot of credit for whatever success Tom Izzo's squad enjoys over the next few months.

Here's the full Wooden watch list:    

• Precious Achiuwa, Memphis, F
• Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton, G
• Cole Anthony, North Carolina, G
• Udoka Azubuike, Kansas, C
• Kamar Baldwin, Butler, G
• Desmond Bane, TCU, G
• Charles Bassey, Western Kentucky, C
• Saddiq Bey, Villanova, F
• Kerry Blackshear Jr., Florida, F
• Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, C
• Yoeli Childs, BYU, F
• Anthony Cowan Jr., Maryland, G
• Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati, G
• Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy, G
• Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, F
• Alpha Diallo, Providence, G
• Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois, G
• Devon Dotson, Kansas, G
• Anthony Edwards, Georgia, G
• CJ Elleby, Washington State, F
• Jordan Ford, Saint Mary's, G
• Kellan Grady, Davidson, G
• Jon Axel Gudmundsson, Davidson, G
• Ashton Hagans, Kentucky, G
• Tyrese Haliburton, Iowa State, G
• Markus Howard, Marquette, G
• Tre Jones, Duke, G
• Anthony Lamb, Vermont, F
• Scottie Lewis, Florida, G
• Nico Mannion, Arizona, G
• Naji Marshall, Xavier, F
• Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky, G
• Jaden McDaniels, Washington, F
• Sam Merrill, Utah State, G
• Andrew Nembhard, Florida, G
• Jordan Nwora, Louisville, F
• Reggie Perry, Mississippi State, G
• Myles Powell, Seton Hall, G
• Payton Pritchard, Oregon, G
• Neemias Queta, Utah State, C
• Nick Rakocevic, USC, F
• Jalen Smith, Maryland, F
• Lamar Stevens, Penn State, F
• Isaiah Stewart, Washington, F
• Killian Tillie, Gonzaga, F
• Tres Tinkle, Oregon State, F
• Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State, F
• Cassius Winston, Michigan State, G
• James Wiseman, Memphis, C
• McKinley Wright IV, Colorado, G

The Wooden Award winner will be announced April 10.