LOS ANGELES – The John R. Wooden Award announced its Preseason Top 50 Watch List today on ESPN's SportsCenter and on ESPN.com and Arizona redshirt senior Oumar Ballo was included on the list. 

Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised 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.

Ballo is a preseason All-American by numerous publications and was a First Team All Pac-12 honoree last year. He was named MVP of the Maui Invitational as a junior and helped lead the Wildcats to their second straight Pac-12 Tournament Championship in 2022-23 while claiming Pac-12 Most Improved Player honors. He averaged 14.2 points and 8.6 rebounds last year and shot 64.7% from the floor, the eighth best percentage in the country and second-best percentage in Arizona history. 

Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 41 are upperclassmen, including 29 seniors. 

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2024 John R. Wooden Award Men's Player of the Year presented by Principal. 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 2024 John R. Wooden Award will be presented in Los Angeles in April.