Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard, Graham Ike named to Wooden Award top 50 watch list

Bulldogs duo among frontrunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor

Two newcomers to the Gonzaga Bulldogs are in contention for the highest honor in men's college basketball.

Transfers Ryan Nembhard (Creighton) and Graham Ike (Wyoming) were named to the John R. Wooden Award top 50 watch list on Tuesday during ESPN's coverage of the Champions Classic. The list was chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts. 

Gonzaga was among 10 schools with multiple representatives on the list, along with Creighton, Duke, Kansas, UConn, Houston, Marquette, Miami, North Carolina and USC.

Nembhard and Ike have received numerous honors early into the 2023-24 season, as both were named to the preseason All-WCC team. Nembhard also made the watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, the NABC Player of the Year and the Bob Cousy Award, which is awarded to the nation's top point guard at season's end.

Ike was named to the Karl Malone Award (power forward) before being chosen as a Sporting News preseason All-American earlier this week.

In the season-opener against Yale, Nembhard finished with 16 points, seven assists and four rebounds in nearly 40 minutes of action. Ike had 11 points, shot 4-for-6 from the field and had three steals in the 86-71 victory to tip off the season. That followed a 24-point outing in the exhibition opener against Lewis-Clark State on Nov. 3.

Gonzaga will face an abundance of Wooden Award contenders in nonconference play, starting with Purdue's Zach Edey at the Maui Invitational next week. Depending on that contest's result, the Zags will see either Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi or Syracuse's Judah Mintz in the ensuing round. Marquette's Tyler Kolek and Kam Jones, UCLA's Adem Bona and Kansas trio Hunter Dickinson, Kevin McCullar Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. are on the opposite side of the tournament bracket.

In December, the Bulldogs will head to Las Vegas on Dec. 2 and go up against USC's Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier, who was one of three freshman tagged to the Wooden Award watch list along with Kentucky's Justin Edwards, who will see Gonzaga in Lexington on Feb. 10. UConn's Donovan Clingan and Tristen Newton await Gonzaga in Seattle on Dec. 15.

Saint Mary's sophomore Aidan Mahaney was also named to the watch list, as well as former Gonzaga big man and current Arizona Wildcat center Oumar Ballo.

Players not named to the watch list are still eligible for the midseason and late season lists, as well as the national ballot. The national ballot of 15 players will be condensed to 10 for the Wooden Award All-American team, which will be announced during the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. The Wooden Award winner will be presented in Los Angeles in April.

Here's the complete Wooden Award watch list:

Max Abmas (Texas)

Trey Alexander (Creighton)

Armando Bacot (North Carolina)

Oumar Ballo (Arizona)

Reece Beekman (Virginia)

Adem Bona (UCLA)

Johni Broome (Auburn)

Boo Buie (Northwestern)

Donovan Clingan (Connecticut)

Isaiah Collier (USC)

L.J. Cryer (Houston)

Tristan da Silva (Colorado)

N'Faly Dante (Oregon)

Johnell Davis (Florida Atlantic)

RJ Davis (North Carolina)

Tucker Devries (Drake)

Hunter Dickinson (Kansas)

Zach Edey (Purdue)

Justin Edwards (Kentucky)

Boogie Ellis (USC)

Kyle Filipowski (Duke)

PJ Hall (Clemson)

Dajuan Harris Jr. (Kansas)

DaRon Holmes II (Dayton)

Bryce Hopkins (Providence)

Graham Ike (Gonzaga)

Kam Jones (Marquette)

Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton)

Tyler Kolek (Marquette)

Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary's)

Kevin McCullar Jr. (Kansas)

Judah Mintz (Syracuse)

Justin Moore (Villanova)

Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga)

Tristen Newton (UConn)

Norchad Omier (Miami FL)

Nijel Pack (Miami FL)

Tyrese Proctor (Duke)

Jeremy Roach (Duke)

Baylor Scheierman (Creighton)

Terrence Shannon Jr. (Illinois)

Jamal Shead (Houston)

Tolu Smith (Mississippi State)

Joel Soriano (St. John's)

Isaiah Stevens (Colorado State)

Wade Taylor IV (Texas A&M)

Santiago Vescovi (Tennessee)

Tyson Walker (Michigan State)

Ja'Kobe Walter (Baylor)

Jahmir Young (Maryland)