Who should win the Wooden Award?

The Los Angeles Athletic Club released on Saturday the 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award. The Wooden Award is given to the best college basketball player in the nation. Here are finalists for the award:

At this point, the Wooden Award is available for a few players to win. There is no player right now that is a lock to win it. Obviously all fifteen candidates are great basketball players, but only one will reign supreme. To me, there a distinction between four players.They are on another level from the rest. Those players are Frank Mason III, Josh Hart, Caleb Swanigan, and Lonzo Ball. At this point, either four of those players can win it if they go on a hot streak in their conference tournaments.

They are all different styles of players, despite three of them being guards. Swanigan is a forward and the only non-guard of the four of them. Each player does certain things better than the others, but Mason III has the edge and should win the Wooden Award.

Let’s take a look at each player's statistics.

Frank Mason III

Josh Hart

Caleb Swanigan

Lonzo Ball

It’s hard not to give the award to the player who scores the most points on the No. 1 team in the nation. That player is Mason III. As a senior, Mason III has helped lead the Kansas Jayhawks to a 28-3 record and likely number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The award is not just about scoring, however. It goes to the best overall player. Josh Hart of Villanova is their best player and is currently ranked No. 2. At 6 ft 6 in, Hart stands seven inches taller than Mason III. While Hart may not average as many points as Mason III, he shoots a better field goal percentage and averages over two more rebounds a game. Mason III is a great scorer and can move the ball around well. Hart is a great scorer as well, but rebounds well.

Then there is Swanigan. Swanigan is a sophomore at Purdue and might be the most well rounded player of the four. As a big man, he can shoot extremely well. It’s rare to find a forward who can shoot 45.5 percent from three. He only shoots the ball from three about twice a game, but he makes it count. Swanigan is also a rebound machine, averaging 12.5 rebounds per game. While he doesn’t have many assists, Swanigan averages the same amount of points as Hart.

UCLA’s Lonzo Ball is an interesting case. As a freshman, Ball may have the most talent and upside of either of these players. He’s one of the best shooters in the nation with a field goal percentage of 55.0 percent and a 42.5 percent three point percentage. As point guard he averages a high amount of assists and rebounds well. The knocks on Ball is his low free throw percentage and points per game. Despite being an amazing shooter, Ball struggles at the free throw line, shooting only 66.3 percent. UCLA also plays a very faced paced offense which averages over 90 points per game. Despite this, Ball only scores around 15 points a game. With the amount of possessions UCLA has per game and how good of a shooter Ball is, scoring under 15 points per game seems weird.

All in all, Mason III takes the cake. He’s the most dependable player in college basketball. He shows up every game and stays on the floor. He averages the highest minutes per game at 36.1 minutes. His field goal percentage may be worse than the others, but he makes it up in his astonishing 49.3 percent three point shooting. He’s the best free throw shooters among the guards and is balanced in rebounding and assists. Mason III does not have a weak spot and can do well in all aspects of the game.