Los Angeles, Calif. — Last year after being named to the Mountain West All-Tournament team, a part of the postgame press conference was dedicated to explaining to Bairstow exactly what that meant. Pretty sure he understands the honor he received this morning.
Bairstow was one of 25 players named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Bairstow is the only Mountain West player on the list, and one of just five in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones.
Bairstow was not on the Preseason Top 50 Wooden Watch List, although two of his teammates were in Kendall Williams and Alex Kirk. Ironically, even though both Williams and Kirk have seen their stats improve from a year ago, both were not included when the list was pared down to 25.
Craig Neal, Lobo head coach who spent a part of the morning in Santa Fe meeting with Governor Susana Martinez and speaking on behalf of the NABC and the American Cancer Society for Coaches vs. Cancer and this weekend’s upcoming Suits and Sneakers promotion for cancer awareness, was glad to see the hard-working Aussie earn the national honor.
“Cam works extremely hard and the summer he had, going back to the Mountain West Tournament, really helped his confidence,” he said. “It’s a credit to him, and it’s a credit to the program and his teammates.”
This season Bairstow is averaging 20.3 points per game, shooting .564 from the field. He is second on the team in rebounding at 7.0, second in blocks with 26, and tied for second in assists (35) and steals (14). Bairstow entered the season having never scored more than 17 points in any game in his career, but the senior from Australia has 11 20-point games this year.
Bairstow had the summer of a lifetime, leading Australia’s World University Games team in scoring, rebounding and blocks on the way to helping the Aussies win their first-ever international basketball medal, earning a Silver Medal. Bairstow parlayed that experience into a tryout with the Boomers Olympic team, making the squad and playing in their exhibition series against New Zealand.
Bairstow and the rest of his mates head out on a two-game, seven day excursion on Thursday as UNM travels to play Colorado State on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN3) and Utah State on Tuesday (9 p.m., ESPNU). The Lobos are 14-4 on the season, and 5-1 in the Mountain West.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the official voting ballot, which will consist of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. However, players not chosen to the midseason list are still eligible for the ballot. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament.
In terms of conferences, distribution of players was fairly even atop the top traditional conferences. The ACC had five selections from three schools, followed by the Pac-12 and Big Ten with four selections each, the Big 12 and SEC with three each, The American with two; and the Atlantic 10, Big East, Missouri Valley, Mountain West with one each.
2013-14 John R. Wooden Award®
Presented by Wendy’s®
Midseason Top 25
|
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
Pos. |
School |
Conference |
|
Kyle Anderson |
6-9 |
So. |
G/F |
UCLA |
Pac-12 |
|
Keith Appling |
6-1 |
Sr. |
G |
Michigan State |
Big Ten |
|
6-9 |
Sr. |
F |
New Mexico |
Mountain West |
|
|
Jordan Clarkson |
6-5 |
Jr. |
G |
Missouri |
SEC |
|
Aaron Craft |
6-2 |
Sr. |
G |
Ohio State |
Big Ten |
|
Sam Dekker |
6-7 |
So. |
F |
Wisconsin |
Big Ten |
|
Cleanthony Early |
6-8 |
Sr. |
F |
Wichita State |
Missouri Valley |
|
Tyler Ennis |
6-2 |
Fr. |
G |
Syracuse |
ACC |
|
C.J. Fair |
6-8 |
Sr. |
F |
Syracuse |
ACC |
|
Aaron Gordon |
6-9 |
Fr. |
F |
Arizona |
Pac-12 |
|
Rodney Hood |
6-8 |
So. |
F |
Duke |
ACC |
|
Nick Johnson |
6-3 |
Jr. |
G |
Arizona |
Pac-12 |
|
DeAndre Kane |
6-4 |
Sr. |
G |
Iowa State |
Big 12 |
|
Doug McDermott*# |
6-8 |
Sr. |
F |
Creighton |
Big East |
|
Shabazz Napier |
6-1 |
Sr. |
G |
Connecticut |
The American |
|
Jabari Parker |
6-8 |
Fr. |
F |
Duke |
ACC |
|
Adreian Payne |
6-10 |
Sr. |
C |
Michigan State |
Big Ten |
|
Casey Prather |
6-6 |
Sr. |
F |
Florida |
SEC |
|
Julius Randle |
6-9 |
Fr. |
F |
Kentucky |
SEC |
|
Marcus Smart |
6-4 |
So. |
G |
Oklahoma State |
Big 12 |
|
Russ Smith |
6-0 |
Sr. |
G |
Louisville |
The American |
|
T.J. Warren |
6-8 |
So. |
F |
North Carolina State |
ACC |
|
Andrew Wiggins |
6-8 |
Fr. |
G |
Kansas |
Big 12 |
|
Chaz Williams |
5-9 |
Sr. |
G |
Massachusetts |
Atlantic 10 |
|
Joseph Young |
6-2 |
Jr. |
G |
Oregon |
Pac-12 |
Players listed alphabetically
* indicates player chosen to the 2013 Wooden All American Team
# indicates player chosen to the 2012 Wooden All American Team