Reggie Jackson, a junior guard who leads Boston College in scoring, assists and steals, has been listed one of the top 30 players named for the John R. Wooden Award, according to a press release from Boston College.
He is one of five ACC players who were named for the award. Kyle Singler (17.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG) and Nolan Smith (19.6 PPG, 5.6 APG) of Duke were listed in the top 30, as well as Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney (19.1 PPG, 4.1 APG) and Maryland's Jordan Williams (17.6 PPG, 11.8 RPG).
Jackson is averaging 18.5 points, 4.7 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals through 15 games this season. He scored a career-high 30 points in the Eagles' loss to Yale on November 16th. In addition, Jackson has scored over 15 points in all but one game this season (Jackson scored nine points in the Eagles' win over Holy Cross on November 22nd).
Through the midway point of the season, Jackson ranks third in the ACC in scoring, second in assists, second in minutes played (34.5 minutes per game) and second in assist to turnover ratio (2.4). In addition, Jackson is third in the ACC in field goal percentage (53.2%) and second in three-point percentage (46.4%).
Fifty players were named to the preseason John R. Wooden Award watch list, including Boston College senior forward Joe Trapani (14.5 PPG, 6.1 RPG). Twenty players were eliminated based on their performance in November and December, and Trapani was one of the 20 eliminated.
The Big 10 and Big 12 lead all conferences with six players each on the current. list. The ACC and Big East are third with five players on the list, while the Pac-10 has three players and the Mountain West has two. The SEC, Ohio Valley Conference and Horizon Conference all had one player on the list.
Connecticut has one player on the list, junior guard Kemba Walker. Through 15 games, Walker is averaging 26.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, four assists and 1.7 steals for the Huskies.
The Wooden Award was created in 1976 in honor of the late, great head coach, John R. Wooden. From 1923 to 1933, Wooden was a guard at Purdue University. In 1946, Wooden accepted his first head coaching job at Indiana State University.
Wooden became the head coach of the UCLA men's basketball team in 1948, where he would win ten national championships and made history by winning a remarkable 88 games in a row, which is the second longest winning streak of all-time in college basketball history.
To view the complete list of the top 30 players named for the John R. Wooden Award, click here. Also, for updates on the Wooden Award watch list throughout the 2010-11 season, visit the award's official website.