Baylor MBB’s Butler Named Wooden Award Finalist
LOS ANGELES – Baylor junior guard Jared Butler has been selected as one of five finalists for the 2021 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s, as announced Friday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Butler is up against Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham, Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu, Iowa’s Luka Garza and Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert. All five finalists were part of the 10-member Wooden Award All-American Team announced Friday, which also included Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson, USC’s Evan Mobley and Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs and Drew Timme.
A Reserve, La., native, Butler is Baylor’s first player named to the Wooden Award All-American Team and its first Wooden Award finalist. He already became the first player in program history to earn consensus All-America First-Team honors and is the first BU player named Big 12 Player of the Year (AP).
Butler is also a Cousy Award finalist, a Naismith Trophy semifinalist, a unanimous All-Big 12 First-Team selection and a Big 12 All-Defensive Team honoree. He was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team on Tuesday, and he’s on track to graduate in May, less than three years after enrolling at Baylor in August 2018. Additionally, Butler serves as a student-athlete representative on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee.
Butler leads the Big 12 in steals (2.1/game) and 3-point percentage (.415). He ranks second in the conference in 3-pointers made (2.5/game), third in assists (4.8/game), third in scoring (16.8/game), fourth in field goal percentage (.479) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.62).
Baylor, which earned the first No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed in program history, won its first two games to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the last 11 tournaments. The Bears face No. 5 seed Villanova at 4:15 p.m. CT Saturday on CBS from Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
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2021 WOODEN AWARD ALL-AMERICAN TEAM
- Jared Butler, Baylor
- Kofi Cockburn, Illinois
- Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State
- Hunter Dickinson, Michigan
- Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
- Luka Garza, Iowa
- Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
- Evan Mobley, USC
- Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga
- Drew Timme, Gonzaga
* - Wooden Award Finalists in bold
Jared Butler
- Wooden Award Finalist (1 of 5)
- Naismith Trophy Semifinalist (1 of 10)
- Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award Finalist (1 of 5)
- All-America First Team (unanimous)
- Big 12 Player of the Year (AP; The Athletic)
- All-Big 12 First Team (unanimous)
- Big 12 All-Defensive Team
- USBWA District VII Player of the Year
- USBWA District VII All-District Team
- NABC All-District 8 First Team
- Academic All-Big 12 First Team
- Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List (1 of 15)
- Lute Olson Award Midseason Watch List
- NCAA National Player of the Week (Jan. 25)
- Naismith Trophy Player of the Week (Jan. 25)
- USBWA National Player of the Week (Jan. 26)
- Big 12 Player of the Week (Jan. 25)