Marquette University Athletics
Diener named to Wooden Award Midseason All-American team
2/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Diener, currently sidelined with a left foot injury, has led the Golden Eagles to 14 victories in 18 games played. He leads the team in scoring (20.2), assists (6.7), three point field goals (56) and is fourth in rebounding (3.8). The 6-1 Fond du Lac native was a preseason, midseason and finalist for the 2004 Wooden Award.
?The Midseason Selection Committee had an incredibly difficult task this season in narrowing the list to 30 players because there have been so many outstanding individual performers thus far,? said Duke Llewellyn, Wooden Award chairman. ?We look forward to watching this group of amazing athletes continue to elevate their games as we determine the top candidates for the Wooden Award All-American Team.?
Ten NCAA conferences are represented on the list, including the ACC, America East, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Conference USA, Mountain West, Pac-10, SEC, and the West Coast Conference. The best represented conferences include the ACC with nine candidates and the Big East and Big 12 conferences, with five and four candidates, respectively.
Players who do not make the Midseason list are still eligible for the national ballot, which will be selected in March and will consist of approximately 20 players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Over 1000 voters, comprised of sports media members and college basketball experts across the nation, will then cast their votes to determine both the ten-member All-American Team as well as the player of the year recipient.
The 2005 award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Men?s and Women?s Wooden Award, the Wooden Award All-American Teams, and Legends of Coaching award recipient Jim Calhoun of the University of Connecticut, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 9, 2005, and will be broadcast live on a national CBS telecast. The top five male and female finalists will be invited to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony and will receive a contribution from the John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund for their university?s general scholarship fund.
A complete list of the 30 midseason candidates can be found at www.woodenaward.com.
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