Aug. 20, 2009

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State senior forward Raymar Morgan and junior guard Kalin Lucas are on the list of 50 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy. Michigan State is one of just nine schools with two preseason candidates. The list of candidates is based on last year's individual performance and team records.

Lucas is one of four candidates to also appear on the 2009 Wooden Award ballot. The 2009 Big Ten Player of the Year, Lucas led the Spartans in scoring (14.7 ppg) and assists (4.6 apg) last season. He was voted Team MVP by both the media and his teammates, and was selected to both the Midwest Regional All-Tournament and Final Four All-Tournament teams. In conference games, he ranked second in the league in scoring at 16.5 ppg, and elevated his scoring to 18.0 ppg in Big Ten road games, as MSU set a school record with an 8-1 league road mark.

This is the second-straight season that Morgan has appeared on the Wooden Award preseason list. He was an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection in 2009 despite playing 20-plus minutes in just nine of 18 league contests due to illness. Morgan averaged 10.2 points and 5.3 rebounds for the season, ranking third on the team in scoring average and second in rebounding. Prior to suffering his illness, he averaged 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds in the first 16 games of the season. In 2008, Morgan was a Second-Team All-Big Ten selection.

Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the preseason list. These players and others who excel throughout the season will be evaluated and considered for December's Midseason list and the official voting ballot released in March.

Nine schools had two players chosen to the Wooden Award preseason Top 50. Michigan State is joined on that list by Kansas (Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich), Duke (Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer), Michigan (DeShawn Sims, Manny Harris), North Carolina (Ed Davis, Deon Thompson), Purdue (Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore), Connecticut (Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson), Villanova (Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher), and West Virginia (Devin Ebanks, Da'Sean Butler).

In late December, the Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed in March by the National Ballot, consisting of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round during the NCAA Tournament.

The 34th annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winner, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, will take place the weekend of April 9-11, 2010.