The madness of college basketball has arrived and the canvas of the 2024-25 season is beginning to be painted. We are starting to get our first looks at each team in the country and how they’ll establish the hierarchy of this season.
While each team will be chasing their goals for the season, the Wooden Award will be handed to the an individual player who is declared the Most Outstanding Player in college basketball.
This article will look at the top candidates for this prestigious award, the case for a few names to keep an eye on and the odds for the top players expected to be in the mix.
Odds to win the Wooden Award on DraftKings Sportsbook:
RJ Davis (North Carolina): +700
RJ Davis was a finalist for the Wooden Award last year and already has an accomplished collegiate resume, but he’s back for year five with North Carolina this season. Davis was crowned the 2023-24 ACC Player of the Year and a consensus All-American. He led the ACC in scoring at 21.2 points per game last season while also adding 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. North Carolina finished as high as seventh in the AP Poll last year, going 29-8 overall and 17-3 in conference play. Davis is set to be at the epicenter of everything North Carolina does once again this season. If UNC has a successful season and Davis matches his level of production, the pathway for him to win the Wooden Award is clear.
Hunter Dickinson (Kansas): +750
After spending the first three seasons of his college career with Michigan, Hunter Dickinson transferred to Kansas last year and will use his final year of eligibility this season. Dickinson is a two-time Consensus All-American, has made the All-Big Ten Team three times, and All-Big 12 Team last season. The 7-foot-1 center led the Big 12 in rebounding last year at 10.9 per game while also adding 17.9 points per game. His Wooden Award case last season was weakened due to an unfulfilling year in regard to team success. After starting the season as the top-ranked team in the country, Kansas went just 23-11 and 10-8 in conference play. They were eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Mark Sears (Alabama): +800
Another fifth-year standout, Mark Sears spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at the University of Ohio before transferring to Alabama. He took a notable leap in production last year averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists and shooting an impressive 43.6 percent from behind the three-point arc. The stocky 6-foot-1 guard flirted with entering the NBA Draft before electing to return to college to add to his resume which already includes NCAA All-Region and consensus All-American honors. With a style of play that resembles Jalen Brunson, there will be a great deal on Sears’ plate this season, and he has looked ready for the challenge early on.
Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton): +2000
Zach Edey stole the spotlight for dominant performances at the big man position over the past few years, but expect Ryan Kalkbrenner to be ready to step into these shoes. Entering his fifth season at Creighton, Kalkbrenner is a three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year and has made the All-Big East team twice. The 7-footer averaged 17.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game last year. Kalkbrenner has led the conference in field goal percentage for the past three seasons. He also is off to a huge start to the year as he dropped 49 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks on 20-22 shooting from the field in the opening game against the Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros. This strong start caused Kalkbrenner’s odds of winning the Wooden Award to drop from +4000 to +2000. He is sure to have plenty of impressive box score outputs on a solid Creighton team, and the line movement that has already occurred is extremely notable.
Johnell Davis (Arkansas): +3000
Johnell Davis was a breakout star for the Florida Atlantic team that went to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament back in 2022-23. He then took his individual production a step forward last season averaging 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists while shooting 41.4 percent on three-point attempts. After spending four years at Florida Atlantic, Davis considered making the NBA leap but instead elected to transfer to Arkansas where John Calipari is set to begin his first season. Calipari has coached the Wooden Award Winner in three seasons already in his career, so this is an intriguing long-shot pick in my eyes.
The Pick: Caleb Love (Arizona): +4000
After spending the first three seasons of college with the North Carolina, Caleb Love transferred to the Arizona. Love earned PAC-12 Player of the Year in his first season averaging 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He also flashed some growth with his jump shot and will now be returning for his final year of eligibility.
Arizona did a nice job in the transfer portal and should be looked at as an NCAA Tournament title contender this year. Love will be at the forefront of the Wildcats’ production and has flashed his willingness and ability to hit big-time shots when the lights are the brightest. In the season debut, he tallied 17 points, six assists and four rebounds in just 21 minutes of action as Arizona cruised to a comfortable victory.
Expect him to settle into his role as the clear leader in his second season with the team and for Love to make his case for being the best player in college basketball this season.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is seanbarnard) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
