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Cameron Boozer of Duke won the 2026 John R. Wooden Award as the top player in men’s college basketball, the second straight Duke winner after Cooper Flagg in 2025. Sarah Strong of UConn won the women’s award. No 2027 Wooden Award odds are posted in ESPN’s college basketball futures feed, so this page quotes no price for it.
Recent men’s winners
| Year | Winner | School |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Cameron Boozer | Duke |
| 2025 | Cooper Flagg | Duke |
| 2024 | Zach Edey | Purdue |
| 2023 | Zach Edey | Purdue |
| 2022 | Oscar Tshiebwe | Kentucky |
Duke and Purdue have won four of the last five between them. Both of the last two winners went on to be drafted in the top three: Flagg first overall in 2025 and Boozer third to Memphis in 2026, and Boozer now leads the 2026-27 NBA Rookie of the Year board.
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How the 2027 award is decided
The award follows the same calendar every season, per the Wooden Award’s selection process:
- Late October: preseason poll, a Top 50 list for men and for women
- January: midseason poll, cut to a Top 25
- February: late-season poll, cut to a Top 20, then academic certification
- End of February: national ballot of 15 men and 15 women, sent to nearly 1,300 voters and compiled by Deloitte
- The weekend after the NCAA championship game: the award presentation
Players left off the watch lists stay eligible for the final ballot, and candidates must meet academic criteria, including a minimum 2.00 GPA. The preseason Top 50 for the 2026-27 season comes out in late October, and this page adds it then.
John Wooden Award odds
No Wooden Award market is posted. The nearest board is the national title: DraftKings has Florida and Duke at +600, UConn at +1100 and Illinois at +1400 for the 2026-27 championship, as ESPN listed it on September 25, 2026. At +600 the book gives a team about a 14.3% chance.
When a Wooden market goes up, read each price the same way: +300 implies 25% and +1000 implies 9.1%. A futures bet is worth making only when you rate a player’s chance higher than the price does.
Our college basketball championship odds page has the full title board, our NCAAB predictions hub carries every game once the season starts, and the NBA Draft odds and Cooper Flagg odds pages follow the last two winners. Compare prices with our sportsbook reviews, and read our handicapper site reviews before paying for picks.
