The preseason honors keep rolling in for UA forward Chase Budinger.
After being named to the 50-player John R. Wooden Award preseason All-American team Wednesday, he earned a spot on the 50-man Naismith Trophy preseason watch list yesterday.
But don’t expect Budinger to pay much attention to what people say about him before the season starts.
“”That kind of stuff, I try not to focus on,”” he said. “”I might just glance at it, somebody might tell me about it, and I try not to worry about it because it is all preseason stuff. It doesn’t mean anything.
“”All that matters is you go out there and perform and get wins. So that’s what I’m just focused on right now is going out there and getting wins.””
Based on Budinger’s Pacific 10 Conference Freshman of the Year campaign last year, the honors are well-deserved for the sophomore. Last year he averaged 15.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 48.5 percent and hitting a team-high 50 3-pointers (.368 percentage).
Budinger, a preseason First-Team All-American as tabbed by Collegehoops.net, joins 11 other Pac-10 players on the Naismith list and nine on the Wooden list, the most from any conference on both lists.