(WISCONSIN ATHLETICS) – The list of accolades continues to grow for Badger big man Nate Reuvers, who was named to the 2021 John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List, presented by Wendy’s and announced Tuesday on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com.
The senior forward from Lakeville, Minnesota was listed as one of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the John R. Wooden All-American Team and Most Outstanding Player Award.
Reuvers is the sixth Badger in the last six years to be named a Preseason Wooden Award candidate, joining Ethan Happ (2017, ’18, 19), Nigel Hayes (2017), Bronson Koenig (2017), Frank Kaminsky (2015) and Sam Dekker (2014).
A Third-Team All-Big Ten pick last season, Reuvers is poised to make that a first-team selection in 2020-21. Through two games, Reuvers is averaging 16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, shooting 64.7 percent from the floor.
Reuvers is just 147 points away from scoring 1,000 points for his career. With 150 career blocks, Reuvers needs just five more swats to become Wisconsin’s all-time blocks leader and break Ethan Happ’s school record (154).
The players on the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 watch list are considered strong candidates for the 2021 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award.
Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2021 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s following the NCAA Tournament in April.
The Big Ten leads all conferences with 10 selections, as players from 11 different conferences are represented on the Preseason Top 50. The ACC and SEC boast seven candidates apiece, the Big 12 and PAC-12 have six each, the Big East has four, the Atlantic 10 and WCC have three apiece, the American has two selections, and the Mountain West and Conference USA have one selection each.
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