Oscar Tshiebwe named Wooden Award All-American for 2nd straight season
He’s not going to repeat as the National Player of the Year, but Oscar Tshiebwe is still hauling in plenty of postseason awards.
On Thursday, Tshiebwe was tabbed to the 2023 John R. Wooden All-American Team for the second straight season. The Kentucky Wildcats center won the Wooden Award outright in 2021-22, making him the first unanimous Player of the Year in school history, but he’ll have to settle for being recognized as one of the nation’s top players from the 2022-23 season. Tshiebwe averaged 16.5 points and 13.7 rebounds per game on 56 percent shooting this past season for UK.
A total of 10 players made this year’s All-American Team, although Tshiebwe is not among the top five that will contend for the Player of the Year honor. Regardless, he is still the program’s ninth-ever consensus All-American.
Along with the Wooden Award, Tshiebwe has now been named an All-American this season by the United States Basketball Writer’s Association (Second-Team), Sporting News (Third-Team), the Associated Press (Second-Team), and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (Second-Team). He was also tabbed to the All-SEC First Team by the media and coaches.
As of this post, Tshiebwe has not made a decision on his basketball future. He could return to Kentucky for a fifth season of college hoops, transfer to another school, or put his name in the NBA Draft. That being said, the sense is that Tshiebwe has played his last game at the college level and will look to start his professional career.
’22-23 Wooden Award All-American Team
Zach Edey (Purdue) – finalist
Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana) – finalist
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (UCLA)
Brandon Miller (Alabama)
Jalen Pickett (Penn State)
Marcus Sasser (Houston) – finalist
Drew Timme (Gonzaga) – finalist
Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky)
Azuolas Tubelis (Arizona)
Jalen Wilson (Kansas) – finalist
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