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| | Wednesday, January 19 | ||||||
ESPN.com | |||||||
| When Ohio State saw Scoonie Penn's name missing from the Wooden Award list last week, the Buckeyes were sure a mistake had been made.
"I was looking for James Penn instead of Scoonie, thinking they went with his real name," Ohio State assistant coach Rick Boyages said. "I couldn't believe it. He's the Big Ten Player of the Year, the point guard for the U.S. National team at the World University games, a preseason first-team All-American. Did someone screw up?" Not at all. Penn wasn't one of the 30 names (actually 33 when all-Americans Mateen Cleaves, Hanno Mottola and Mark Madsen were added to the list when they returned from injuries). Sam Lagana, executive director of the Wooden Award, said Penn didn't make the cut among its national advisory committee of basketball-related people. But that doesn't mean he won't be on the voting list. A year ago, Auburn's Chris Porter and St. John's Ron Artest weren't on the mid-year top 30 but made the final list for voting, which is released March 6."Basically every player is eligible right now as long as they meet the academic requirements of at least a 2.0 GPA and are on track toward graduation," Lagana said. "(Scoonie Penn) isn't being ruled out." Lagana said the committee won't put a player on the list if he fails to meet the academic requirements. He said that's why Maryland junior guard Steve Francis wasn't a finalist for the award last year despite being one of the top players in the nation. Francis left for the NBA after one season at Maryland. Fresno State's Courtney Alexander wasn't on the preseason list but cracked the top 30 after returning from an injury and averaging 23 points a game. "What's frustrating about it is that the award is named after John Wooden and you would think legitimate basketball people would be voting on it, but who's narrowing things down?" Boyages said. "You can't come up with 10 or 12 better players than Penn. He has stayed all four years in college (actually five because of transferring) and he embodies a true college player." Penn's teammate, guard Michael Redd, did make the list. There's no validity to the argument of two players from the same school being too many for the list -- Duke, Connecticut, Auburn and Michigan State had two players make the cut. Penn's numbers have dipped a bit this season -- he's averaging 15.8 points after scoring 16.9 a year ago. His shooting has dropped from 44.9 percent to 38.4 (38.4 to 33.3 on 3-pointers) but his assists are up from 4.3 to 4.5 for the Buckeyes (9-3, 1-1 in the Big Ten). "Statistically I'm missing something," Boyages said. "How can you analyze this and not have him on the list?" Regardless of Penn making the list, the favorite for the award is Cincinnati senior center Kenyon Martin.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. | ALSO SEE Daily Word: UCLA staying patient Daily Word: Swift remains LSU's key Weekly Watch: Parity party | ||||||