Oscar Tshiebwe trending up in Wooden Award odds
Oscar Tshiebwe is on the midseason watch list for two National Player of the Year awards so far, the John R. Wooden Award, and the Lute Olson Award. Vegas puts a line on everything, so of course there is one for the Player of the Year race. As of today on BetOnline.ag, Oscar’s odds of winning the Wooden Award are 9/1, which is tied with Duke’s Paolo Banchero and behind Johnny Davis (Wisconsin), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois) and Ochai Agbaji (Kansas). As you can see in the chart below, he wasn’t even on the board when the season started.
Odds to Win the John R. Wooden Award 2021-22
| 11/9/21 | 12/1/21 | 1/3/22 | 1/18/22 | |
| Johnny Davis | OTB | 40/1 | 22/1 | 9/2 |
| Kofi Cockburn | 14/1 | 20/1 | 6/1 | 11/2 |
| Ochai Agbaji | 33/1 | 12/1 | 9/1 | 15/2 |
| Oscar Tshiebwe | OTB | 33/1 | 12/1 | 9/1 |
| Paolo Banchero | 11/1 | 7/2 | 6/1 | 9/1 |
| Drew Timme | 6/1 | 7/2 | 6/1 | 10/1 |
| Keegan Murray | OTB | 12/1 | 10/1 | 11/1 |
| Benedict Mathurin | OTB | OTB | 20/1 | 12/1 |
| E.J. Liddell | 12/1 | 10/1 | 9/2 | 12/1 |
| Trayce Jackson-Davis | 25/1 | 12/1 | 20/1 | 16/1 |
| Jabari Smith Jr | 80/1 | 15/1 | 15/1 | 20/1 |
| Jaden Ivey | 22/1 | 20/1 | 12/1 | 22/1 |
| Collin Gillespie | 12/1 | 16/1 | 40/1 | 33/1 |
| Chet Holmgren | 12/1 | 20/1 | 25/1 | 40/1 |
| Julian Champagnie | 50/1 | 50/1 | 40/1 | 50/1 |
| Hunter Dickinson | 11/1 | 18/1 | 40/1 | OTB |
| Izaiah Brockington | OTB | OTB | 25/1 | OTB |
| Isaiah Mobley | OTB | OTB | 33/1 | OTB |
| Jaime Jaquez Jr | 40/1 | 40/1 | 40/1 | OTB |
| Johnny Juzang | 12/1 | 12/1 | 50/1 | OTB |
| Marcus Sasser | 40/1 | 40/1 | 50/1 | OTB |
| Tari Eason | OTB | OTB | 50/1 | OTB |
Oscar is looking to become the first Division I player to average at least 15.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds per game since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each did during the 1979-80 season, and the first Wildcat to do it since Bob Burrow had 19.1 points and 17.7 rebounds per game in 1954-55. He’s responsible for 35.1% of all of Kentucky’s rebounds so far and also leads the team in scoring (16.5 points per game). That’s nuts.
“I think he wanted to show everybody, I can do a little more than I did at West Virginia,” Bruiser Flint said of Oscar today. “I will say, I’ve been surprised by some of the things he’s been able to do.”
Oscar remains No. 1 in KenPom’s Player of the Year rankings, ahead of Ohio State’s EJ Liddel and Gonzaga’s Drew Timme.
Frontrunner for Fan Favorite of the Year
I love Oscar. You love Oscar. Your mom really loves Oscar. It’s clear Tshiebwe has won the Big Blue Nation over, which Flint says comes as no surprise.
“Off the court, he’s been great. He’s a very faithful kid. He expresses it to everybody, like you can see on his Twitter and those things of that nature. I know he and a couple of players have talked about faith together and they said Oscar has definitely opened up their eyes ot that stuff so that’s the type of thing that you don’t see on the floor that people appreciate being around him.”
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Oscar has turned up his social media game in recent weeks, sharing inspirational messages, pictures from fans, and the occasional joke. One tweet had Bruiser Flint rolling.
“Oscar’s a little bit of a showman, as you can see. He has an understanidng of it. He has some good things. The one that got me was the one he sent out about Miss USA. I didn’t even realize she was at the game and then I see his tweet about it. He showed all the guys looking up in the air, saying she was in the gym. I mean, that takes a little bit of thought. But Oscar’s a little bit of a showman. He says some funny things but he understands it a little bit.”
Here is said tweet, in case you missed it, along with photos of Elle Smith, Miss USA, who was the Y at the Georgia game on Jan. 8:
More Oscar goodness, just because:
See, even your dog loves Oscar.
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