Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News >>> SoonerSports.com

[OUHoops]

Source: SoonerSports.com

Huge Honor for Warren from The Sporting News
Sophomore guard is named publication's preseason national player of the year.

NORMAN, Okla. - If The Sporting News' prediction holds true, come next spring the Oklahoma men's basketball team will have produced national players of the year in back-to-back seasons. The magazine has named OU's Willie Warren as its preseason national player of the year.

Warren, a 6-4, 203-pound sophomore who is considered by many college basketball analysts as the country's best shooting guard, is coming off a 2008-09 campaign that saw him claim Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors and earn freshman All-America acclaim.

Warren averaged 14.6 points and 3.1 assists per contest last year for a 30-6 OU squad that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He scored at least 20 points seven times and topped the 30-point mark twice. He also set school freshman records for starts (34) and 3-point makes (67), and shot a team-high .372 from behind the arc.

"I'm not going to lie, being named preseason player of the year is pretty cool," said Warren before OU's Friday afternoon practice. "I'm extremely honored by it. I'm just looking forward to a fun year with my teammates and coaches. We've got a lot of really talented players and we're going to have a great season."

Only one player in school history scored more points as a true freshman than Warren did last year and that was Wayman Tisdale in 1982-83. Warren finished the season with 525 points and is looking to join Tisdale, Alvan Adams and Blake Griffin as the only Sooners to score 1,000 points by the end of their true sophomore season.

Warren, who scored 23 points and handed out five assists (no turnovers) in 28 minutes against British Columbia in exhibition play Tuesday, will look to follow Griffin as national player of the year. Griffin was last season's consensus honoree after averaging 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds, and shooting a Big 12-record .654 from the field.

The Sooners open the regular season with a home game against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. CT (the OU football team hosts Texas A&M at 6 that night). Mount St. Mary's is picked by Blue Ribbon Yearbook to win the Northeast Conference.

 

[DenverSooner]

Re: Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News

Wow! What a list of players. I don't really know anything about Adams but any list with Blake and Wayman on it is a heck of a list.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Re: Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News

So when is the last time the POY played on a team that is ranked like 45th in the country [which is what OU is ranked by Sporting News I believe].

 

[OUSooners1]

Re: Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News

Adams was unstopable, with a great NBA career, but I only know that from what people have said because I was too young

 

[MNsooner]

Re: Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News

So when is the last time the POY played on a team that is ranked like 45th in the country [which is what OU is ranked by Sporting News I believe].

They must think we are playing WW with a 4 players from my elementary school church league.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Re: Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News

They must think we are playing WW with a 4 players from my elementary school church league.

Not 100% sure that it was Sporting News that had us so low...but if it is then they need to reconvine.

 

[Salt City Sooner]

Re: Huge honor for Warren from The Sporting News >>> SoonerSports.com

It was TSN. They had us #43 in their pre-season edition, 5th in the Big 12 (behind A&M & KSU), & an 11 seed in the dance. FWIW, I got my weekly edition a couple of days ago & they now have us as a 10 seed.