Returning All Americans Ogwumike and Sims Head the List

Los Angeles (April 2, 2014)— The John R. Wooden Award Women’s All American Team was announced today by The Los Angeles Athletic Club. Voting by college basketball media members from throughout the nation took place from March 12 through 25, allowing voters to take into account play through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The All American Team is made up of the five student-athletes who received the highest point total over that period. All players have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA, an important component of the Award insisted upon by Coach Wooden.

Two players return to the All American Team from a year ago: Stanford senior forward Chiney Ogwumike and Baylor senior guard Odyssey Sims. Rounding out the five-player team are Notre Dame’s Kayla McBride, Connecticut’s Breanna Stewart, and Maryland’s Alyssa Thomas. All but Sims will take their teams to the Final Four this weekend; Baylor advanced to the Elite Eight.

Ogwumike is a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year and three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Her 26.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per game, 60.4% field-goal percentage, and 26 double-doubles make her the only player in the country to rank in the NCAA’s top 10 in each of those categories. She is No. 6 on the NCAA all-time rebounding list and is the Pac-12’s all-time leading scorer with 2,722 points. Sims averaged 28.5 points, No. 2 nationally, and 4.6 assists for the 32-5 Bears. With 1,054 points in 2013-14, Sims is just the second NCAA Division I women’s player to score over 1,000 points in a season. She was the 2014 Big 12 Player of the Year.

McBride, the ACC Player of the Year, started all 36 games for Notre Dame this season, registering 17.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game for the undefeated Irish. Stewart leads UConn at 19.4 points per game and was the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Her 738 points on the season are fourth most in the history of the UConn program. Thomas poured in a career-high 33 points against Tennessee to lead Maryland into the Elite Eight; she averages 18.6 points and 10.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists, all top 5 marks in the ACC, and is her school’s all-time leading scorer.

The John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year will be announced as part of the 38th annual Wooden Award Gala presented by Wendy’s weekend April 10-12, 2014 at The Los Angeles Athletic Club. The event will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, this year given to Stanford Head Women’s Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer.

Four different conferences are represented by the five players: the ACC had two selections, and the American, the Big 12, and Pac-12 each had one.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, 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), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ’11). Baylor’s Brittney Griner won the 2013 John R. Wooden Award.

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 Ceremony.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WoodenAward.com, following us on Twitter (@WoodenAward), or going to the Wooden Award facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward. For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5231 or via email at [email protected].

2013-14 John R. Wooden Award^®
Women’s All Americans