On the day Penn State officially introduced new men’s basketball coach Mike Rhoades to the public, one of the greatest players to come through the program received yet another All-American honor. [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag] was named to the Wooden Award All-American team on Thursday. Pickett is the first player in program history to receive that distinction.
Pickett’s latest All-American honor is the latest in a string of All-American honors that includes being a consensus all-American with the AP, NABC, USBWA, and Sporting News. CBS Sports also included Pickett on its all-American roster as well.
Pickett was one of three Big Ten players appearing on the Wooden Award All-American team. He was joined by Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis. No other conference had more than two players on the list; the SEC had two with Alabama’s Brandon Miller and Kentucky’s Oscar Tubelis and the Pac-12 had Jaime Jauez Jr. of UCLA and Azuolas Tubelis of Arizona.
Pickett averaged 17.7 points per game with 7.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. He was the MVP of a Penn State team that went on a memorable run to an appearance in the Big Ten championship game, taking Purdue down to the wire, and advanced to the first NCAA tournament for the program since 2011 and winning its first tournament game since 2001.
2023 John R. Wooden Award All-America Team
- Zach Edey – Purdue
- Trayce Jackson-Davis – Indiana
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. – UCLA
- Brandon Miller – Alabama
- Jalen Pickett – Penn State
- Marcus Sasser – Houston
- Drew Timme – Gonzaga
- Oscar Tshiebwe – Kentucky
- Azuolas Tubelis – Arizona
- Jalen Wilson – Kansas
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