College Basketball Futures: Best Bets to Win Wooden Award (2024-25)
The Wooden Award for the College Basketball Player of the Year is given annually to the top men's and women's collegiate basketball players. When the award was first given out in 1969, four of the first six men's recipients were centers. While the sport of basketball has changed mightily to a guard's game, Purdue’s Zach Edey served as a bit of a throwback, winning the last two years.
When predicting who will win this year's Player of the Year Award, it is important to look at trends of past winners.
Since the year 2000, the breakdown of the winners by year in school is as follows:
- Freshmen: 3 winners
- Sophomores: 6 winners
- Juniors: 12 winners
- Seniors: 14 winners
This is a fascinating trend, given how many NBA draft boards are dominated by underclassmen each year. The fact 14 seniors have won the award in the past 24 seasons shows you how beneficial it can be in some cases to stay in school and develop your game or transfer to a school putting them in a great position to maximize their potential.
There are many variables one must factor in when predicting who will win the Player of the Year Award. Things like the player's supporting cast, team success and national exposure are all important in determining a player's candidacy. Here is a look at the players with the 10 best odds to be the Player of the Year in college basketball.
College Basketball Futures: Best Bets to Win Wooden Award
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Wooden Award Futures Betting Odds
| PLAYER | TEAM | ODDS |
| RJ Davis | North Carolina | +700 |
| Cooper Flagg | Duke | +700 |
| Hunter Dickinson | Kansas | +750 |
| Mark Sears | Alabama | +800 |
| LJ Cryer | Houston | +2000 |
| Johni Broome | Auburn | +2000 |
| AJ Storr | Kansas | +2000 |
| Tamin Lipsey | Iowa State | +2500 |
| Johnell Davis | Arkansas | +3000 |
| Khalif Battle | Gonzaga | +3500 |
Best Bets to Win College Basketball’s Men’s Wooden Award
Mark Sears (+800)
The Alabama Crimson Tide reached the Final Four for the first time in school history last season and are built to build on that success as the nation’s No. 2 team in the AP preseason poll.
The engine that makes the Crimson Tide go is Mark Sears, who averaged 21.5 points per game last season. Sears plays in the perfect system under Nate Oats to fill the stat sheet as Alabama plays at one of the fastest tempos and is one of the most perimeter-oriented teams in the country.
Sears shot 43.6% from the three-point line last year and is also a deadly free-throw shooter (85.7% from the free-throw line), which means he will be icing several games from the charity stripe. He scored 24.2 points per game in the NCAA Tournament last year and has scored 19.6 points per game or better in two collegiate seasons.
Sears has plenty of scoring options around him so he will not have to shoulder the offensive load like he did much of last season. He is the best option of any of the top four players that have odds of +800 or shorter.
Johni Broome (+2000)
Big men of sorts have won each of the last seven Wooden Awards, as Oscar Tshiebwe, Luka Garza (twice), Obi Toppin and Zion Williamson took home the award before Zach Edey’s back-to-back wins the last two seasons.
Auburn’s Johni Broome is the best big man in the SEC. While he was the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game last year, he stuffs the stat sheet in so many other ways. Broome ranked second in the conference with 8.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
Tshiebwe won the Wooden Award as a double-double machine. Broome is capable of being that same player. The Tigers are helped by offseason additions of Furman transfer JP Pegues (18.4 points per game) and Georgia Tech guard Miles Kelly (13.9 points per game), and their perimeter prowess should open up things inside for Broome to do work.
Ryan Kalkbrenner (+4000)
Ryan Kalkbrenner is a former All-American who averaged 17.3 points and 3.1 blocks per game last season. He is a three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year. This is his fifth collegiate season. He has averaged 32+ minutes in each of the previous two seasons. He is likely to break several school records this year that he does not already own.
UConn is the hunted team in the Big East, and the country, becoming the first team since the 2006-07 Florida Gators to win consecutive national titles. If Kalkbrenner and the Creighton Bluejays can steal that title from UConn and claim a stake as being the best team in the Big East, that will go a long way in earning him Player of the Year consideration. He is a great longshot play to add to the portfolio.
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.