Gonzaga forward named to Wooden Award Preseason Watch List

The Wooden Award preseason top 50 watch list was released Tuesday morning

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Graham Ike is off to a spectacular start in his final season with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, and it has not gone unnoticed.

On Tuesday, the 6'9 big man was named to the John R. Wooden Award preseason top 50 watch list, launching the 50th anniversary of college basketball's highest individual honor.

The top 50 list was selected by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts. Players on this list are considered strong candidates to win the Wooden Award, but players not on this list could still be included on the Wooden Award midseason and late season lists, as well as the National Ballot - which will feature 15 finalists.

Ike is the lone representative from the West Coast Conference among the top 50 and is one of just two players not from a power 5 conference, alongside Saint Louis big man Robbie Avila.

Ike has been dominant through five games in his third season with Gonzaga, averaging 17.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 26.2 minutes per game. The Colorado native is holding a career-high 62.3% effective field goal rate, in part due to a 44.4% clip from the three point line on nearly two attempts per game.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Ike recorded a double-double in each of his first three games, before falling one rebound short in a road win over Arizona State on Friday. He had 13 points and five rebounds in Gonzaga's 72-point win over Southern Utah on Monday, only playing 21 minutes as coach Mark Few played 13 different players in the dominant win.

Gonzaga will face quite a few players on the Wooden Award top 50 list, including Alabama point guard Labaron Philon, next week at the Player's Era Festival. No one from Maryland - Gonzaga's opponent on Tuesday night - made the list, but the Zags could face many other Wooden Award top 50 players, depending on who their third opponent is in Las Vegas. Potential matchups include Nate Ament and Ja'Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee), Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn), or a trio of stars from Houston (Emanuel Sharp, JoJo Tugler and Milos Uzan) or St. John's (Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, and Ian Jackson).

Gonzaga will also match up against UCLA point guard Donovan Dent on Dec. 13 in Seattle at the Climate Pledge Arena, and a pair of Oregon Ducks - center Nate Bittle and point guard Jackson Shelstad - at the Moda Center in Portland on Dec. 21.