UA men’s basketball player Chase Budinger was placed on the 2008-09 John R. Wooden Award preseason All-American team, the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Wooden Award Committee announced Friday.
The forward is one of 50 student-athletes in the nation to be considered for the award, which has been given to college basketball’s players of the year annually since 1969. He is one of five players in the Pacific 10 Conference – along with Washington’s Jon Brockman, UCLA’s Darren Collison, USC’s Taj Gibson, and ASU’s James Harden – to be honored.
Budinger, a 6-foot-7, 218-pound junior, averaged 17.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game last season. He scored 15 points in an exhibition against Division II Incarnate Word Thursday night in McKale Center.
The Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list in January. The Top 10 list will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.
