Kaminsky named Wooden Award finalist and All-American 

Wisconsin men’s basketball senior Frank Kaminsky was named a finalist for the 2015 John R. Wooden Award, as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Monday.
 
Amidst one of the best seasons in program history, Kaminsky was not only named as a finalist for the Wooden Award, but was also selected to the Wooden Award All-America Team. He joins Devin Harris (2004) and Alando Tucker (2007) as the only Badgers to be named John Wooden All-Americans.
 
The 39th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor and reveal the men's and women's Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-America Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award. The event will take place on Friday, April 10, as part of the first-ever College Basketball Awards Show Presented by Wendy’s.
 
The 2015 Big Ten Player of the Year, Kaminsky became a consensus first-team All-American after receiving first-team nods from the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the United States Basketball Writers Association and Sporting News. He is the second Badger, joining Tucker (2007), to become a consensus All-American at Wisconsin in the last 70 years.
 
Just the third preseason AP All-American in school history, Kaminsky validated the early accolades and currently leads the Badgers in points (18.7), rebounds (8.0), assists (99), blocks (54), field goal percentage (.549) and 3-point field goal percentage (.415).
 
Having led Wisconsin to the Final Four for the second-straight season, the native of Lisle, Illinois, is averaging 22.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 51.7 percent field goal shooting and 62.5 percent 3-point shooting through four NCAA tournament games this year.
 
Top-seeded Wisconsin is set to face fellow No. 1 seed Kentucky in the national semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, at approximately 7:49 p.m. (CT) Saturday.
 
Voting for the John R. Wooden Award began March 16, and voters, consisting of nearly 1,000 members of the national college basketball media, were allowed to take into consideration the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament. Voting officially ended March 23.
 
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97) and Kevin Durant (’09). Creighton’s Doug McDermott won the 2014 Wooden Award.