John R. Wooden Award Odds & Picks

A big man has taken home the John R. Wooden Award each of the last four seasons. Oscar Tshiebwe took home bragging rights a season ago after averaging a near double-double with 17.4 points and 9.9 rebounds. He did so even though Kentucky failed to win the SEC regular season or conference tournament titles.

Zach Edey is currently the heavy -330 favorite at BetRivers Sportsbook to put the trophy on his mantelpiece playing center for a Purdue Boilermaker squad that owns the fifth shortest odds to cut the nets come early April. The kids averaging just shy of 22 points per game and over 13 rebounds per game, so it’s going to be tough for anyone to chase him down.

With all the value sucked out of the big man’s odds to win the award, let’s instead search for some value in the current offerings and see if we can pinpoint the player that comes out of nowhere to steal it from his grasp. No way I’m laying $330 to make a Benjie! The following are my favorite, underdog, and longshot selections to do just that. You’ll notice there’s a heavy Big 12 flavor to the selections since it’s inarguably the best conference in the country!

Bet Wooden Award Odds at BetRivers Sportsbook

*All remaining players 100-1 or greater

Favorite to Bet: Jalen Wilson +1000

While Edey plays an enormous role for the Boilermakers at both ends of the court, the Kansas Jayhawks would likely be left for dead right now if not for Jalen Wilson deciding to skip the NBA Draft and come back to Lawrence for his senior campaign. After averaging 11.8 and 11.1 points per game the last two seasons, Wilson has upped his scoring output in a big time way being the No. 1 scoring option for the nation’s 16^th most efficient offense per the current Pomeroy Ratings.

He’s tickled the twine for an average of 20.8 points while shooting a career-best 32.8 percent from behind the arc. He’s also the Jayhawks leading rebounder (8.9). There isn’t a shot the kid won’t take with the game on the line. This was highly evident in his 38 point eruption at Kansas State earlier this week. Should Purdue start to falter like I expect and Kansas continue running roughshod upon the Big 12, No. 10 will undoubtedly see his odds to win this award shrink dramatically.

Underdog to Bet: Mike Miles +7500

I’ve got high hopes for Jamie Dixon’s Horned Frogs this season. While TCU has already absorbed three losses with a pair coming in Big 12 play, it’s not how you start but how you end when it comes to being a successful college basketball program in this day and age. Mike Miles Jr. is as big a gamer as they come, and his 1.3 percent implied probability of winning this award is bonkers in my unbiased opinion.

With the game on the line, there might not be another player in the country – save for the stud listed up above – that I’d want with the ball in his hands. Now in his junior season, No. 1 has improved upon his statistical outputs every passing year. He’s currently averaging 19.0 points per game while shooting a blistering 52 percent from the field. Should he continue excelling as the ringleader of what I deem to be the best team in the Big 12, voters will have no choice but to give him some love. As such, look for his rate of return to diminish the deeper we get into the season.

Longshot to Bet: Keyonte George +15000

For all intents and purposes, the Baylor Bears have been a mild disappointment to this point in going 13-5 SU and splitting their first six conference games. That being said, it’s starting to look like Scott Drew’s kids have righted the ship rattling off three straight convincing wins to even that Big 12 record up. The driving force in each of those triumphs proved to be none other than freshman Keyonte George who averaged 22.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists.

That brought his seasonal outputs up to 17.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. Baylor is currently a 20-1 underdog to win the Big 12 regular season title, but you can bet your bottom dollar those odds – along with his to take home the Wooden – will be slashed dramatically if the wins continue piling up. The potential of this kid continuing to exceed expectations is more than enough for me to throw a beer money flier on a potential lottery ticket!

Bet Wooden Award Futures Odds at BetRivers Sportsbook