The final stretch of the Wooden Award race will feature some the game's top juniors and seniors, but only a handful of freshmen and sophomores.
Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky, the frontrunner by most accounts, is one of 12 upperclassmen among the Wooden Award 15, which was announced on ESPN's "College Gameday" on Saturday morning.
Jahlil Okafor, Duke's freshman star and Kaminsky's most viable competitor for the award, is one of just three underclassmen on the list.
Wichita State's Ron Baker, Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon, Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein, Syracuse's Rakeem Christmas, Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, BYU's Tyler Haws, Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, Iowa State's Georges Niang, Utah's Delon Wright and Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer are also on the Wooden Award 15.
Northern Iowa senior Seth Tuttle, who wasn't nominated for the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25, made the list of 15 finalists announced on Saturday. Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell and Arkansas' Bobby Portis are the other underclassmen who are still in contention for the Wooden Award.
More than 1,000 voters -- media members -- will make their final selections during a voting process that will begin on March 16 and end on March 23. On March 30, the five finalists for the Wooden Award and the Wooden All-American squad will be announced on ESPNU at 8 p.m. ET.
On April 10, the Wooden Award winner will be announced exclusively on the ESPN CBB Awards in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.