Senior guard Jarron Cumberland was named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List, a day after being added to the Naismith Watch List. Cumberland will have a chance to win a lot of awards if he has a year like his junior season.
Good luck to Jarron!
Per GoBearcats:
University of Cincinnati senior guard Jarron Cumberland (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington HS) was selected to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List on Tuesday, Nov. 5, as announced on ESPN’s SportsCenter and ESPN.com.
A preseason poll of national college basketball experts resulted in list of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2020 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2020 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s during the ESPN College Basketball Awards on Friday, April 10, 2020.
It continues a trend of preseason accolades for Cumberland. He also was named to the Lute Oslen Player of the Year Watch List (40 players) on Tuesday, Nov. 5 and was selected to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List (50 players) and the NABC Player of the Year Watch List (20 players) on Monday, Nov. 4.
Other recent recognition for Cumberland includes being named the American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year and one of 30 players named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List. His name has appeared on several All-America lists, including Lindy’s Sports Magazine (first team), Sporting News (second team) and The Athletic (second team). He also has been listed as one of the nation’s top players by SBNation.com (eighth), CBSSports.com (10th) and ESPN.com (13th).
Last season, Cumberland was named to an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and tabbed to the Citizen Naismith Trophy Midseason Team of 30 players.
Cumberland claimed AAC Player of the Year and American Championship Most Outstanding Player accolades in 2018-19 and serves at the league’s top returning scorer for 2019-20. He averaging 18.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 32.5 minutes in 35 games last season. He averaged 23.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the AAC Tournament and set the tournament’s championship game record, scoring 33 points on 11-of-24 shooting with eight rebounds against No. 11 Houston.
Cumberland ranked among AAC leaders in eight categories in 2018-19: points (third at 18.8), three-point field goal percentage (seventh at .388), three-point field goals made (seventh at 2.3), free throw percentage (10th at .773), assists (11th at 3.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (13th at 1.3), minutes played (14th at 32.5) and steals (15th at 1.1).
Cumberland scored 657 points during 2018-19, the 10th most points scored in a season in school history while becoming the 53rd member of Cincinnati’s 1,000-point club. He enters 2019-20 ranked 20th on the all-time scoring list with 1,363 career points.
// 2020 JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESESAON WATCH LIST (50 PLAYERS)
Precious Achiuwa, Memphis
Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton
Cole Anthony, North Carolina
Udoka Azubuike, Kansas
Kamar Baldwin, Butler
Desmond Bane, TCU
Charles Bassey, Western Kentucky
Saddiq Bey, Villanova
Kerry Blackshear Jr., Florida
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke
Yoeli Childs, BYU
Anthony Cowan Jr., Maryland
Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia
Alpha Diallo, Providence
Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
Devon Dotson, Kansas
Anthony Edwards, Georgia
CJ Elleby, Washington State
Jordan Ford, Saint Mary’s
Kellan Grady, Davidson
Jon Axel Gudmundsson, Davidson
Ashton Hagans, Kentucky
Tyrese Haliburton, Iowa State
Markus Howard, Marquette
Tre Jones, Duke
Anthony Lamb, Vermont
Scottie Lewis, Florida
Nico Mannion, Arizona
Naji Marshall, Xavier
Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky
Jaden McDaniels, Washington
Sam Merrill, Utah State
Andrew Nembhard, Florida
Jordan Nwora, Louisville
Reggie Perry, Mississippi State
Myles Powell, Seton Hall
Payton Pritchard, Oregon
Neemias Queta, Utah State
Nick Rakocevic, USC
Jalen Smith, Maryland
Lamar Stevens, Penn State
Isaiah Stewart, Washington
Killian Tillie, Gonzaga
Tres Tinkle, Oregon State
Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State
Cassius Winston, Michigan State
James Wiseman, Memphis
McKinley Wright IV, Colorado
