Saddiq Bey Named to Wooden Award Preseason Top 50

Villanova sophomore Saddiq Bey was named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 on Tuesday just hours before the Wildcats opened the season against Army.

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 Wooden Award All American Team and Most Outstanding Player Award.

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in collegebasketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), and last year’s recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Zion Williamson of Duke.

Saddiq Bey is joined by fellow Big East players Markus Howard, Ty-Shon Alezander, Kamar Baldwin, Alpha Diallo, Naji Marshall, and Myles Powell.

Villanova fans will recall that Jalen Brunson took home the hardware in 2018, along with literally every other award available to him, becoming the first Wildcat to ever be awarded the honor.

Bey had a strong opening to the season, totaling 22 points on 9-14 (2-5 from deep) and five rebounds against Army in Villanova’s 97-54 win.