WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

ACC's best are finalists for Wooden Award

By Tim Hall

Mar 13, 2009

The final ballot for this year's John R. Wooden Award was released on Thursday.  There is no shortage of ACC or local players among the finalists.

Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson made the cut for North Carolina.  Hansbrough won the award last season and leads the ACC in scoring this year with almost 22 points per game.  Lawson was recently named the ACC Player of the Year.

Duke's Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler made the list as well.  Henderson received some votes for conference player of the year as well as being voted to the All-ACC first team. 

Others from North Carolina up for consideration include Wake Forest's Jeff Teague and Davidson's Stephen Curry.  Curry leads the nation in scoring at 28.6 points per game.  His Wildcats team lost in the Southern Conference Tournament and is considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.

Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, Pittsburgh teammates DeJaun Blair and Sam Young, Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, and James Harden of Arizona State are among others up for the award.

The award will be announced on April 10 in Los Angeles.