March 7, 2008

LOS ANGELES (March 7, 2008) - The John R. Wooden Award Committee will announce the 2008 Official Voting Ballot for the Men's and Women's Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year Award, presented annually to the nation's top collegiate basketball player, on Monday, March 10.

Ballots will be mailed out to more than 1,000 voters for the men's award and 300 for the women's award. Voters are sports media members and college basketball experts from across the nation, and will determine the 10-member men's and five-member women's All-American Teams and Players of the Year. Ballots will be due back from the voters by Monday, March 31 at 3:00 p.m. EST/ Noon PST, a long voting period that allows voters to evaluate players up through games of the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

To be considered for the national ballot, a player must have been verified by his/her university as having met the Wooden Award criteria, including making normal progress towards graduation and maintaining a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher. All players on the national ballot have met the Wooden Award academic requirements.

The 2008 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, the Wooden Award All-American Teams, and the Legends of Coaching Award to Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of April 11-12. The top five male and female finalists will be invited to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony and will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their university's general scholarship fund.

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), and Tim Duncan ('97) and last year's recipients, Kevin Durant of Texas and returning player Candace Parker of Tennessee.