Jordan Hill Named to Wooden Award Midseason Top-30 List

Jordan Hill

By Richard Paige, Arizona Athletics February 9, 2009

UA men's basketball player Jordan Hill was named one of candidates for the 2008-09 John R. Wooden Award.

University of Arizona men's basketball player Jordan Hill was named one of candidates for the 2008-09 John R. Wooden Award.

The Wildcat junior is included among a list of 30 student-athletes who are under consideration for the 2009 John R. Wooden Award, which has been given to college basketball's player of the year annually since 1969. The midseason list is based on individual player performance and team records during the first half of the season. Hill is one of five Pac-10 players on the list.

Going into Saturday's game against Oregon, Hill, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward from Atlanta, Ga., was averaging 18.0 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, while leading the team with a .550 (160-of-291) field goal percentage. He has scored in double figures 22 times to date, and has a Pac-10-leading 14 double-doubles to his credit.

Hill averages 34.6 minutes per game this year with seven 20-point games and four games with 15 or more rebounds. He collected a career high 30 points on Jan. 24 versus the University of Houston and grabbed a career-best 22 rebounds on Nov. 18 against the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Hill earned Pac-10 Player-of-the-Week honors on Dec.15.

The Wooden Award committee will distribute the national ballot to more than 1,000 voters in early March. The 10-player Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced during the "Elite Eight" round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 2009 ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Men's and Women's John R. Wooden Award, the Wooden Award All-America teams and the Legends of Coaching Award to recipient Rick Barnes of the University of Texas, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club in April.

The top five male and female finalists will be invited to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony and will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their university's general scholarship fund.