Oscar Tshiebwe makes 2022 Wooden Award Midseason Top 25

On3 image — Photo by Chet White | UK Athletics

Oscar Tshiebwe’s National Player of the Year campaign is still very much alive. The 6-foot-9 big man was reassured of that when it was announced that he’s considered one of the top 25 players in college basketball so far this season.

On Wednesday night, the 2022 Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List was unveiled, with Tshiebwe making the cut. The former West Virginia transfer was not one of the Top 50 tabbed to the Preseason Watch List, but he has since worked his way into national prominence to start the 2021-22 season.

The Wooden Award is handed out annually to the nation’s best college basketball player.

Oscar Tshiebwe has been named to the 2022 @WoodenAward Midseason Top 25 Watch List 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/uu1vI2A486
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 5, 2022

Tshiebwe is currently No. 2 in the KenPom National Player of the Year standings, posting record-breaking averages of 15.1 points and 15.2 rebounds per outing. He leads the entire country in both offensive and defensive rebounding while also shooting 61.7 percent from the floor. Tshiebwe is also the only SEC player averaging a double-double this season.

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At the beginning of the year, it was actually TyTy Washington and Kellan Grady, not Tshiebwe, who made the initial Top 50 Watch List. Halfway through the year, Tshiebwe has supplanted both his teammates.

Below is the entire Top 25 of players who made the Midseason Watch List (in alphabetical order).

Wooden Award Top 25 Midseason Watch List

Max Abmas – Oral Roberts
Ochai Agbaji – Kansas
James Akinjo – Baylor
Paolo Banchero – Duke
Izaiah Brockington – Iowa State
Kofi Cockburn – Illinois
Johnny Davis – Wisconsin
Hunter Dickinson – Michigan
Zach Edey – Purdue
Collin Gillespie – Villanova
Chet Holmgren – Gonzaga
Jaden Ivey – Purdue
Trayce Jackson-Davis – Indiana
Jaime Jaquez Jr. – UCLA
Johnny Juzang – UCLA
E.J. Liddell – Ohio State
Bennedict Mathurin – Arizona
Isaiah Mobley – USC
Wendell Moore Jr. – Duke
Keegan Murray – Iowa
David Roddy – Colorado State
Jabari Smith – Auburn
Drew Timme – Gonzaga
Oscar Tshiebwe – Kentucky
Trevion Williams – Purdue