Temple University Athletics
Dionte Christmas Named To Wooden Award Preseason List
11.7.08 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - Temple University senior guard Dionte Christmas has been named as one of 50 candidates for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy, announced today by Richard "Duke" Llewellyn, Wooden Award Chairman and founder. Christmas is the first Temple player to make the list since Mardy Collins in 2005, and is one of two Atlantic 10 Conference players to receive the honor. Xavier junior forward Derrick Brown is the other A-10 player on the list.
Christmas,a preseason honorable mention All-America honors, became just the third player in A-10 history to repeat as league scoring champion in 2007-08 when he averaged 19.7 points per game as a junior to earn first team all-conference honors. The Philadelphia native (Philadelphia Lutheran Christian Academy) has scored 1,381 points to rank 26th on the Temple all-time scoring list. His 670 points scored duringthe 2007-08 season is the 12th highest total in the 114-year history of Owl basketball.
A preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection, Christmas also set a new single season record for three-point field goals with 104 made last year. He now has connected on 212 three-pointers for his career to rank sixth on the TU all-time list.
In all, 42 schools are represented on the Wooden Award Preseason list. The A-10 is one of 10 conferences to have multiple players honored.
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 January's Midseason list and the official voting ballot released in March.
In mid-January, 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 33rd annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award to Rick Barnes from The University of Texas, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club in April, 2009.
Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, last year's Wooden Award winner, returns to Chapel Hill for his final collegiate season and has a chance to become only the second repeat men's Wooden Award winner. Ralph Sampson of Virginia won the Award twice, in 1982 and 1983. Other returning Wooden All-Americans include Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody and Davidson guard Stephen Curry.
