A year ago, a pair of seniors who wound up battling for the Wooden Award: Buddy Hield and Denzel Valentine. This season, the preseason favorite is clearly Duke junior wing Grayson Allen, but the race appears as wide open as ever.
Allen earned a spot on my first team of All-Americans, but I feel as though this Blue Devils team will be far more balanced with the addition of freshmen Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson, Harry Giles and Marques Bolden.
Therefore, I've decided to go elsewhere for my choice for the player of the year, to a guy who also could wind up being the No. 1 overall NBA draft pick come June.