After a stellar start to the 2025-26 season for Iowa basketball (4-0), Hawkeyes senior point guard Bennett Stirtz has been named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List, according to an announcement on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
The Wooden Award Watch List is now the fourth preseason Player of the Year nod for Stirtz, as he was also named to the NABC, Naismith Trophy, and Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List.
Advertisement
The Liberty, Mo., native has been named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Watch List, along with preseason second-team All-American by CBS and the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (fourth team), and preseason All-Big Ten selection by Blue Ribbon, USA TODAY Sports, and the preseason All-Big Ten team.
Through Iowa’s first three games, Stirtz was averaging 21.3 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game on 58.8% shooting from the floor, 46.2% from 3-point range, and 90% from the free-throw line. Stirtz scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting in Iowa’s 99-70 win over Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday night.
Stirtz is one of 12 players from the Big Ten Conference on the preseason list, which includes Wisconsin‘s John Blackwell, UCLA‘s Donovan Dent, Indiana’s Tucker DeVries, Ohio State‘s Bruce Thornton, Michigan‘s Yaxel Lendeborg, Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, Illinois’ Andrej Stojakovic, Oregon‘s Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith.
Advertisement
Selected by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the Wooden Award Watch List comprises 50 student-athletes who are frontrunners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All-American Team and the Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player.
Winners of the various Wooden Awards and All-Americans will be honored at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 10, 2026.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa basketball star named to Wooden Award Preseason Watch List
