Keita Bates-Diop Added to Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 List
February 5, 2018by
Tony Gerdeman0 comments
Ohio State fourth-year junior forward Keita Bates-Diop has been added to the Wooden Award’s Late Season Top 20 list. The announcement was made on ESPNU Monday.
The Wooden Award, which began for men’s basketball in 1977, goes to college basketball’s player of the year. The only Buckeye to ever win the award is Evan Turner in the 2009-2010 season.
Bates-Diop’s name was not on the initial preseason list of 50 names to watch, or the mid-season Top 25 names four weeks ago.
Bates-Diop leads the Big Ten in scoring with 20.2 points per game, while also adding 8.9 rebounds per game. He was also named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, his fourth time winning the award this season.
He averaged 24 points and 13 rebounds per game in OSU’s two games last week, including a career-high 35 points in Sunday’s win over Illinois.
From OSU:
The last Buckeye to earn four B1G honors in the same season was Jared Sullinger in 2011. Evan Turner claimed the award seven times in 2010. Sullinger was the national and Big Ten freshman of the year in 2011 and Turner was the National and Big Ten Player of the Year in 2010.
Bates-Diop was selected B1G POW Jan. 15 after earning the honor the week before as well on Jan. 8. The 6-7 forward also earned the honor Dec. 11, 2017. Bates-Diop averaged 23 points and 8.5 rebounds in a home win over Maryland and a road victory at Rutgers. He averaged 29.5 points and 10 rebounds in wins at Iowa and at home vs. No. 1 Michigan State. He poured in a then career-high 32 points vs. the Spartans after a 27-point effort at Iowa. His earlier award also followed a pair of Ohio State victories. In the 97-62 win over William & Mary Dec. 9, Bates-Diop scored 27 points after an 18-point, nine-rebound effort against Michigan Dec. 4. For that week, Bates-Diop connected on 62 percent of his shots from the field (16-26), 50 percent from 3-point range (4-8) and 90 percent at the foul line (9-10). Against William & Mary, the Buckeyes made 10-consecuitve field goal attempts early in the second half, Bates-Diop made five of those buckets, all from inside the arc, to help Ohio State to a commanding lead.
KBD POW Awards/Honors
USBWA National POW (1/9/18)
USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy
Midseason Watch List (1/22/18)
Naismith Trophy National POW (1/8/18)
NBC Sports National POW (1/8/18)
Big Ten POW (12/11/17)
Big Ten POW (1/8/18)
Big Ten POW (1/15/18)
Big Ten POW (2/5/18)
https://theozone.net/2018/02/keita-bates-diop-wooden-award-top-20/