Rutgers Star Featured On Wooden Award Top 15 Ballot

The ballot for the 2024-25 Wooden Award has been released and Rutgers is represented within the Top 15.

Dylan Harper was named to the Wooden Award ballot, which was released on Saturday morning, after what has been an incredible individual season.

Harper came into Rutgers as one of the top recruits in the nation out of high school and has played like it as a freshman. He currently averages 19.1 points and four assists per game while shooting 49% from the field. Harper logged a career-high 37 points during the Players Era Festival in November in a game against Alabama. This came after a 36-point performance the night before against Notre Dame.

It has been a disappointing season for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers will enter the season-finale on Sunday against Minnesota with a record of 14-16 and 7-12 in Big Ten play. Barring a miriculous run in the Big Ten Tournament, Rutgers will miss the NCAA Tournament once again in a year where it was ranked in the AP Top 25 coming into the season.

The arrival of Harper and Ace Bailey, two of the top five recruits in the nation, gave the Scarlet Knights great hope for the year. That quickly went to the wayside as Rutgers struggled on the defensive end of the floor and have not been able to find a solution.

Harper has not been a disappointment individually and is expected to be one of the top players taken in the 2025 NBA Draft.

The full list of candidates for the John R. Wooden Award can be found below:

Johni Broome, Auburn

Walter Clayton Jr., Florida

L.J. Cryer, Houston

Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Eric Dixon, Villanova

Cooper Flagg, Duke

P.J. Haggerty, Memphis

Dylan Harper, Rutgers

Kam Jones, Marquette

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton

Chaz Lanier, Tennessee

Mark Sears, Alabama

Braden Smith, Purdue

John Tonje, Wisconsin

Zakai Ziegler, Tennessee

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