2011 All Americans Brittney Griner and Nneka Ogwumike Return to the List

Los Angeles (January 27, 2012)— The John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 was announced today by The Los Angeles Athletic Club on the nationally recognized “Women’s Sports Central” podcast, hosted by women’s basketball experts Brenda VanLengen and Mechelle Voepel. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the list is made up of 20 student-athletes who, based on their performances in November, December, and January, are the frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor. The men’s midseason list was announced last week.

Stanford senior Nneka Ogwumike and Baylor junior Brittney Griner were Wooden Award All Americans in 2011, with Ogwumike also garnering the honor in 2010, and they continue to put up impressive numbers in 2012. Ogwumike leads the Pac-12 in scoring (22.9 ppg, No. 5 nationally as of 1/21/12) and rebounding (11.2 rpg, No. 8 nationally), guiding her team to a Top 5 national ranking. Griner is averaging 22.7 points per game (No. 8 nationally) for the No. 1-ranked Bears, and also ranks No. 19 in rebounding (10.3) and No. 1 in blocked shots (5.1). The nation’s current top scorer, Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne (27.9 ppg), also made the midseason list.

All six underclassmen named to the Wooden Award ballot in 2011 return to the midseason Top 20 in 2012. In addition to Griner and Nneka Ogwumike, these players include Georgetown’s Sugar Rodgers, Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins, Shekinna Stricklen of Tennessee, and Shenise Johnson of Miami. Ohio State’s Samantha Prahalis was on the ballot in 2010, along with Stricklen, Nneka Ogwumike and Delle Donne.

In terms of conference representation, the Big East leads the way with five Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 selections, followed by the ACC with four; the SEC with three; and the Big 12, Big 10, Pac-12 and CAA each with two. Five schools had two players chosen: Notre Dame (Diggins and Natalie Novosel); Tennessee (Stricklen and Glory Johnson); Stanford (Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike—the first pair of sisters ever named to the midseason list); Baylor (Griner and Odyssey Sims) and Connecticut (Bria Hartley and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis). Mosqueda-Lewis and Elizabeth Williams of Duke were the only freshmen chosen.

The 36th annual Wooden Award Gala will take place on Friday, April 6, 2012, and will honor winners, All Americans and the Legends of Coaching winner Geno Auriemma of Connecticut.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976 and named after the Hall of Fame player, coach and teacher, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball.  It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA.  Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Blake Griffin (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ’11). BYU’s Jimmer Fredette and Moore were the Wooden Award winners in 2011.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the All American recipients. The Award has also sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award’s name.   Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament.  The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award Gala.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WoodenAward.com.  For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5231 or email at [email protected].

2011-12 John R. Wooden Award Women’s
Midseason Top 20 List

(Players listed alphabetically.)

*indicates player was 2011 Wooden Award All American
GS indicates Graduate student