John R. Wooden Award Odds: Top College Basketball Players For 2024

Another exciting college basketball season is coming to an end, and an avalanche of exciting basketball odds markets comes with it. 

That doesn’t just include single-game spreads and totals, but futures as well. And for those who aren’t satisfied betting just the college basketball national championship odds, BetMGM also has a market for one of the top awards in college basketball.

With the 2024 season now approaching March Madness, here are the basketball betting odds for which college hoops player will win the John R. Wooden Award, one of the major national Player of the Year Awards given out at the end of every season. 

Wooden Award Odds

College Basketball Player of the Year Odds

There’s still a couple of weeks left before March Madness, but Zach Edey’s monster status as a -5000 favorite is hard to ignore. The implied probability of such a price is 98%. According to the market, Edey is virtually guaranteed to repeat as the Wooden Award winner. 

If you think the market is wrong on Edey, there’s raw value in buying up a guy like Kansas big Hunter Dickinson, who is averaging 18 and 11 while shooting 56% from the field. 

But if it is indeed Edey who pulls down a second straight set of consensus College Basketball Player of the Year awards, it would be a historic accomplishment. 

There hasn’t been a true, no-doubt, back-to-back consensus award winner in college basketball since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson dominated the awards market in 1981, 1982, and 1983.

College Basketball Player of the Year Awards

The John R. Wooden Award is given out annually to the most outstanding player in college basketball. It is awarded by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Since 2004, the Award has honored both a men’s and women’s player, though the award does date back to 1977. Zach Edey and Caitlin Clark were the winners last season. Both players are back this season, which is why Edey is the early favorite to win the award this year.

The Wooden Award is one of six major Player of the Year awards in men’s college basketball. The others are:

• The Naismith College Player of the Year
• AP Player of the Year
• The Oscar Robertson Trophy
• National Association of Basketball Coaches Player of the Year
• Sporting News College Player of the Year

Most years, all six awards are given to the same player, as was the case last year with Edey. However, some seasons do not produce a consensus award winner, with different players earning different honors. This most recently happened at the end of the 2019-20 season, when Dayton’s Obi Toppin won five of the six major awards, but Iowa’s Luka Garza was the Sporting News honoree.