Purdue seniors Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore were recognized as early frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor on Monday when the Los Angeles Athletic Club released the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list.
The award is named for the Purdue playing legend and college basketball coaching icon who passed away in June.
Purdue was the only team in the nation to place three players on the list, and one of just six with more than one representative. Eleven conferences were represented on the list, led by the Big Ten’s 10 selections.
A finalist for the Wooden Award in both 2008 and 2010, Hummel was a second-team State Farm and honorable mention Associated Press All-American in 2010 after averaging 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. The Valparaiso, Ind., native is a three-time All-Big Ten selection, including first-team nods in 2008 and 2010, and is one of just 20 players in program history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for his career.
He led the Big Ten and ranked eighth in the NCAA in free throw percentage as a junior, shooting 90.2 percent from the charity stripe.
Moore was also an honorable mention AP All-American and first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2010, earning John Wooden Team MVP honors in a vote by his teammates after becoming just the third player in program history to lead Purdue in scoring and assists in the same season. The East Chicago, Ind., product started all 35 games for the Boilermakers in 2009-10, ranking sixth in the Big Ten in scoring (16.4 ppg) and ninth in steals (1.5 spg), while pulling down an average of 3.8 boards per contest.
Off the court, Moore became the eighth Purdue player since 1972 to earn Academic All-America honors when he was awarded second team accolades from ESPN The Magazine.
A two-time All-Big Ten pick and Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection, Johnson paced the Boilermakers in rebounds a year ago (7.1 rpg) and ranked third on the team in scoring with a career-best average of 15.5 points per outing. The Indianapolis native led the Big Ten in blocks per game in league play (2.0 bpg), and will enter his senior season ranked second on Purdue’s career list with 184 rejections.
Johnson spent the summer of 2010 refining his game against the U.S. National Team, traveling to Las Vegas and New York as part of the U.S. Men’s Select Team to help Team USA prepare for its gold-medal winning run at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
The 35th annual Wooden Award ceremony will take place during the weekend of April 8-11, 2011. The Wooden Award All-America Team will be announced during the Elite Eight of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.