As the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season has officially passed its midseason point, it’s worth considering which player will join recent stars in the sport like Zach Edey of Purdue and Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe as the year-end winner of the Wooden Award.
We’re guaranteed to have a first-time winner in 2025 after Edey took his talents to the NBA. That paves the way for one of the sport’s up-and-coming players, like Cooper Flagg of Duke or Auburn’s Johni Broome, to bring home the hardware.
To assess which CBB player has the best chance of succeeding Edey as the Wooden Award winner, BetCarolina.com – your source for top North Carolina sports betting promos – broke down some hypothetical odds on which star will take home the sport’s top individual honor this spring.
Naismith Player of the Year 2025 Odds
Player | Percentage Chance | Odds |
Cooper Flagg, Duke | 45.5% | +120 |
Johni Broome, Auburn | 19.0% | +425 |
Kam Jones, Marquette | 10.0% | +900 |
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee | 7.4% | +1250 |
Eric Dixon, Villanova | 3.2% | +3000 |
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State | 2.4% | +4000 |
Mark Sears, Alabama | 2.4% | +4000 |
PJ Haggerty, Memphis | 2.4% | +4000 |
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida | 2.4% | +4000 |
Braden Smith, Purdue | 1.8% | +5500 |
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga | 1.8% | +5500 |
The Field | 2.4% | +4000 |
Right now, oddsmakers from DraftKings NC Sportsbook have Flagg as the overwhelming favorite to win the honor, coming in at -400 odds. Broome is down to +380 after injuring his ankle in a victory over South Carolina on Saturday; the senior from Plant City, Florida, is out indefinitely for the top-ranked Tigers.
Combine that with Flagg’s 42-point outburst against Notre Dame on Saturday (a new ACC freshman scoring record) and you have the main motivators behind our flipped Wooden Award leaderboard this week.
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Can Anyone Catch Flagg?
Not if he keeps playing the way he has of late. The freshman forward out of Maine has averaged 24.4 points per game for the Blue Devils in five ACC games, all of which the Durham powerhouse has won comfortably, motivating us to put the 6-foot-9 star as our top pick to win the Wooden Award, at +120 this week.
Duke is off to a 14-2 start, 6-0 in the ACC, and is the favorite to win the national title at BetMGM North Carolina Sportsbook as of Jan. 14, with +600 odds.
Broome’s status dropped a line in our most recent Wooden Awards odds update, with the senior forward falling to +425 (from +140 in our last update). Marquette’s Kam Jones is the next closest contender to win the honor, at +900, followed by Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier at +1250.
Longshots to keep an eye on this award season include Keshon Gilbert of Iowa State, who is tied with Mark Sears of Alabama, Memphis’ PJ Haggerty and Walter Clayton Jr. of Florida at +4000. Braeden Smith of Purdue and Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard come in at +5500 apiece.
For now, Flagg is looking to become the first Duke player (or Blue Devils freshman) to win the Wooden Award since Zion Williamson during his lone season in Durham in 2019. Check out our Duke basketball odds as the conference season rolls along.
USA Today Network photo by Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch
Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetCarolina.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
