Zach Edey Favored To Win Back-To-Back Wooden Awards

• Zach Edey has -2500 odds to win the John R. Wooden Award.
• Only Ralph Sampson has won back to back Wooden Awards.
• Dalton Knecht and R.J. Davis are tied for the second shortest odds.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The regular season of college basketball is soon coming to a close and so are the odds to win the John R. Wooden Award if all stays course. Zach Edey has been nothing short of dominant on both sides of the ball this season and is on pace to become just the second player in college basketball history to win back to back Wooden Awards. Ralph Sampson is the only player to win two straight awards back in 1981-82 and 1982-83.

Legal sports betting sites have had Edey favored all year after his opening odds came in at +185 and dropped under even shortly after in December when they touched -180. They haven’t looked back since as he now stands alone at a massive -2500 advantage.

2022-24 John R. Wooden Award Odds

• Zach Edey (Purdue) -2500
• Dalton Knecht (Tennessee) +3000
• RJ Davis (North Carolina) +3000

Two major factors that go into the voting for the Wooden Award are the presence that the player has on both offense and defense and the overall success of the team. Edey meets both requirements with 23.7ppg, 11.8 rpg, and 2.2 blk. He has also been a major part of why the Boilermakers have been ranked inside of the top 5 for the entire season and ranked #1 for the entirety of December and half of January.

Where some could be skeptical in betting on him though is the fact that only one player in history has won back to back and also that the preseason favorite hasn’t won the award in the last two seasons. In 2022, Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky won with +4000 and Edey won in 2023 with +3500 opening odds.

A Case For Knecht & Davis

Anything that could be argued for Edey to win the award (other than winning last year) could also be argued for Dalton Knecht (Tennessee) and R.J. Davis (North Carolina).

Knecht has been uber impressive in his first season with the Volunteers leading the team in scoring with 20.8 ppg and also putting up 4.9 rpg, and just under one block and steal per game as well. Like Edey, Knecht has also helped Tennessee remain one of the strongest teams in the country and ranked inside the top 10 for most of it.

As for R.J. Davis, he needs no introduction at all as he’s putting up a career season at 21.7 ppg, 3.4 apg, and 1.3 spg. All of which are career highs. Unlike Tennessee and Purdue, North Carolina has had to climb this season after opening ranked as the #19 team in the country and entering the top 10 in mid-December, and haven’t dropped out since. They’ve been ranked as high as #3.

With those cases, college basketball sportsbooks could be in trouble should one of them walk away with the most votes.

News tags: basketball | College Basketball | Dalton Knecht | Indiana | John R. Wooden Award | North Carolina Tar Heels | Ohio | Purdue Boilermakers | R.J. Davis | Ralph Sampson | Tennessee | Tennessee Volunteers | Wooden Award | Zach Edey