Brandon Miller Added to the Wooden Award List

Miller was originally left off the list of finalists.

Author:
Mason Smith
Updated:
Mar 11, 2023 10:35 AM EST
Original:
Mar 11, 2023

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When the original list of finalists for the Wooden Award was released, Brandon Miller was not on it. It now seems that the committee has changed its mind as the star freshman was recently added as a finalist for the nation's best collegiate player.

Miller is undoubtedly one of the best players in college basketball and by far the best freshman, but the connection to the shooting involving former teammate Darius Miles might have played a role his initial absence from the list.

The first sign that Miller's connection might lead to exclusion was the SEC weekly honors, where Arkansas' Nick Smith and Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe won the Freshman of the Week and Player of the Week honors, respectively. This was after Miller, just after more information came out and Nate Oats said his controversial "wrong place, wrong time" comment, scored a career-high 41 points against South Carolina and followed it with a 24-point performance in a win against Smith's Razorbacks.

But it seemed the concerns were short-lived as Miller would receive the SEC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards voted on by the coaches, along with receiving All-SEC First Team honors. He would also receive the same set of awards given by the Associated Press.

Now Miller is once again in contention for the Wooden Award, and like other national award lists, he is the only freshman. Here is the full list below:

Armando Bacot, North Carolina

Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy

Zach Edey, Purdue

Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana

Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA

Keyontae Johnson, Kansas State

Mike Miles Jr., TCU

Brandon Miller, Alabama

Kris Murray, Iowa

Jalen Pickett, Penn State

Marcus Sasser, Houston

Drew Timme, Gonzaga