The John R. Wooden Award, presented to the nations best college basketball player, released its first watch list on Tuesday.The preseason list includes 50 names, but it should be noted that players not on the current list can be added as the season progresses and the best players are revealed.They range from those who arent household names, such as Davidsons Jack Gibbs and Valparaisos Alec Peters, to players who have been around a while, such as Kansas Frank Mason III and Virginias London Perrantes.A front-runner to consider this season may be Duke junior guard Grayson Allen, who was the leading vote-getter in the Associated Press preseason All-America team after averaging 21.6 points last season. Close behind Allen is California sophomore forward Ivan Rabb, who averaged 12.5 points and 8.6 rebounds last season.It should be noted that maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average is factored into the award. Thats what kept LSUs?Ben Simmons?off the final ballot last season.The Wooden Award will announce a midseason top 25 in January and a late-season top 20 in February before producing its final ballot in March. The winner will be announced in April.Here are a few breakdowns of the preseason list:* Judging by the class breakdown of the list, this season wont be the year of the senior. Last season the Wooden Award race was close between seniors Buddy Hield (Oklahoma) and Denzel Valentine (Michigan State)?and had 26 seniors on the preseason top 50. This year the number of seniors, while the most of any class, dropped to 16. That includes defending national champion Villanovas contributions to the list with Kris Jenkins and Josh Hart.* Freshmen picked up the most spots this year, going from seven in 2015 to 12. A few have already made splashes, such as Washingtons Markelle Fultz, who had 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his debut.* The sophomore and junior classes contributed 11 players each.* Five players named to the preseason top 50 are making repeat appearances, having also been on it to begin last season: Dukes Allen; Indianas James Blackmon Jr.; Wisconsins Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig; and Marylands Melo Trimble.* Several players who have yet to take the court this season form the injured reserve section of the list: Dukes Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum and Oregons Dillon Brooks are still trying to become healthy enough to play.* Players from 10 schools comprise exactly half the list with Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Oregon and Wisconsin each represented by three players apiece. Last year, Kentucky and Indiana were the only schools with three players each.* The ACC leads all conferences with 12 players selected, and its eight different schools represented also were the most among all conferences. The Big Ten matched its selections from last year and had 10 players from seven different schools, which was second most among conferences in both categories. Custom Buffalo Bills Jerseys Cheap . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. Custom Seattle Seahawks Jerseys Cheap .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. http://www.customjerseysfootball.com/custom-kansas-city-chiefs-jerseys-cheap-373h . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. Custom Minnesota Vikings Jerseys Cheap . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Discount Custom Football Jerseys . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. PITTSBURGH -- Matt Murray stood tall for the Pittsburgh Penguins during a key second-period sequence in which the short-handed Toronto Maple Leafs tried to make a push.Murray turned aside the threat and the Penguins took over from there, putting away a tired Maple Leafs team in the final 20 minutes.Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust scored in the third period to help Pittsburgh pull away for a 4-1 victory over Toronto on Saturday night.I think sometimes you give up opportunities and we kind of dodged one with some of the chances they got, Crosby said. Those were some big saves and we were able to get those go-ahead goals after that.Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz also scored and Murray stopped a career-high 35 shots as Pittsburgh won for the seventh time in nine games.Zach Hyman scored for the Maple Leafs and Frederik Andersen had 45 saves in his second start in two nights. Toronto has won just once in its last eight on the road.I thought our fatigue showed a bit in the third period, Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. Our goalie was good and we gave up two, what I think, are bad goals that are D-zone coverage.Murray kept the game tied at 1 late in the second period, denying Connor Brown and Matt Martin on a pair of point-blank, short-handed opportunities, in addition to a stop on another odd-man rush.My job is to make the save at the right time, to bail them out when they need it, and they came out hot in the third, said Murray, who has won his last 11 regular-season starts. We were pretty much unstoppable in the third.Kunitz put the Penguins ahead with 18 seconds left in the period when he flipped the puck over a sprawled Andersen.To get that goal late in the second definitely gave us a big boost, Crosby said.Rust made it 3-1 at 6:58 of the third period when he took a feed from Crosby at the faceoff dot and put a shot on Andersen. He got his own rebound and darted to the net, sweeping a shot past Andersens outstretched pad.Crosby extended the lead a little more than three minutes later, tapping in a twice-redirected shot from the top of the crease for his 10th of the season. Crosby, who missed the Penguins first six games with a concussion, has 10 goals and 133 points in his last nine.ddddddddddddThe Penguins, who rebounded from their first regulation loss on home ice Thursday against Minnesota, extended their unbeaten stretch against Toronto to nine games, including seven in Pittsburgh.Everyone has been there with back-to-back games, Crosby said. Going into the third, its not easy, but I thought we did a good job of keeping our foot on the gas and applying pressure.Hyman got Toronto on the scoreboard first less than two minutes into the game with a between-the-legs deflection over Murrays shoulder from the right post. It was Hymans second goal of the season and second in two nights.Malkin scored his eighth on the power play to tie it at 3:06 of the second. Kris Letangs initial shot from between the circles ricocheted off the end boards behind the net and Malkin was near the post to tap it in.Malkin has points in nine of his last 11 games, including four straight overall and six consecutive at home. Patric Hornqvist, who had an assist on the goal, has points in 11 of 15 games this season.This was the first meeting between Crosby and Maple Leafs rookie forward Auston Matthews. Crosby faced Matthews, the No. 1 overall pick in 2016, four days after his first game against Edmonton star Connor McDavid, the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.Matthews, who had six goals and four assists in his first six games, hasnt scored since Oct. 25, and has just three assists in his last nine games. He was shut out again on Saturday with one shot in nearly 17 minutes of ice timeGame notes Leafs D Matt Hunwick played for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury Oct. 25. ... Penguins F Tom Kuhnhackl was in the lineup for the first time in six games. ... The Penguins wore their Pittsburgh Gold white road jerseys on home ice for the first time since Game 2 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final against Chicago.UP NEXTToronto: Hosts Nashville on Tuesday night in the opener of a stretch of three of four at home.Pittsburgh: At Washington on Wednesday night to start a stretch of five of six on the road. ' ' '