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No shortage of names who could be on Wooden list

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Mike Miller

Apparently 50 names aren’t enough when it comes to preseason awards lists.

When the preseason Wooden Award list comes out every October, some players are inevitably overlooked. This season’s no different.

Of the 50 names on the list, it’s hard to argue any of them don’t belong. If you’re looking for college basketball’s best players, that’s a solid list that includes scorers, playmakers and rebounding machines like New Mexico’s Drew Gordon. (OK, maybe Dee Bost doesn’t belong on there.) It’d be easy to add a few more names, too.

Kyle Weems, Arsalan Kazemi and Reggie Hamilton all produced at outstanding rates last season and would be worthy additions. Terrence Ross, Rodney McGruber and Jason Clark are all poised for breakout seasons. They could easily make the list. And Doron Lamb? He may very well lead Kentucky in scoring.

And what an efficient scorer like Chace Stanback who’s primed to take a larger role in UNLV’s offense? Or the best player on a potentially great team in Belmont’s Ian Clark? Or a guy who can flat-out score like Central Connecticut’s Ken Horton?

But hey, once you start listing names, your preseason honors become unwieldy. Might as well just toss out names of the best players on every team. It’s a nice honor and helps people start talking about the season, but that’s about all it does.

Because there are only about 10, maybe 15 guys who have a realistic chance of winning the Wooden. And a handful aren’t even included on the preseason version because the preseason version doesn’t include freshmen. By season’s end, it’ll probably be Harrison Barnes, Jared Sullinger, Terrence Jones, Tu Holloway, Jordan Taylor or a darkhorse like Doug McDermott. That’s a

But hey, it’s a fun argument. Especially for the start of October.

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