Wooden Award Adds Huskies' Stewart to Top 25 Listing
The legendary Johnny Wooden would have loved Isaiah Stewart's game. The UCLA coach built his teams around college basketball's best big men, inside guys who always played hard and dominated their opponents.
That sums up Stewart, Washington's sensational freshman forward from Rochester, New York, who on Wednesday was named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25.
"I think he's the best player in the country," Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said of his precocious big man following Sunday night's 72-40 victory over USC.
For the UW newcomer, it is only part of the attention showered on him. Halfway through the season, Stewart also has been named to the Naismith Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award, christened after one of Wooden's premier centers; the NABC Player of the Year Award, and the Citizen Naismith Award.
The 6-foot-9 Stewart, shown in the video with another UCLA great Bill Walton, is one of three Pac-12 players to rate Wooden consideration, joining Oregon guard Payton Pritchard and Oregon State forward Tres Tinkle.
The Huskies forward, who averages 19.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, is one of five freshmen listed among the Wooden nominees. Others are 6-9 Precious Achjuwa of Memphis, 6-10 Vernon Carey Jr. of Duke, 6-5 Anthony Edwards of Georgia and 6-3 Tyrese Maxey of Kentucky.
Stewart and his Huskies play next at Stanford on Thursday night.
