Los Angeles (March 14, 2013)— The John R. Wooden Award Women’s Ballot was announced today by The Los Angeles Athletic Club President Steve Hathaway. Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the ballot is made up of 15 student-athletes who have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Hundreds of members of the college basketball media will vote on the Wooden Award Player of the Year and All American team from 9:00 AM EST (6:00 AM PST), Monday, March 18, 2013, through 3:00 PM EST (Noon – PST), Wednesday, March 27, 2013, either online or through the mail.

2012 Wooden Award winner and two-time Wooden All American Brittney Griner returns to the ballot in her senior season, along with Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins and Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, both Wooden Award All Americans in 2012. The 6-8 Griner averages 23.3 points (No. 3 in the nation) and 4.13 blocked shots (No. 2) for the top-ranked Baylor Bears. Diggins, the 2012 and 2013 Big East Player of the Year, averages a team leading 17.3 points and 5.9 assists, directing a Notre Dame offense that ranks No. 2 nationally, won the Big East regular season and tournament championships and finished the regular season winning 26 straight games,. Delle Donne sits just above Griner in the national scoring statistics, averaging 25.5 points (No. 2 nationally) and 9.3 rebounds for the Blue Hens, despite sitting in six of her team’s first seven games due to fatigue resulting from issues related to Lyme disease. Her team hasn’t lost since she returned to the lineup full time.

The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year will be announced at the 2013 Wooden Award Gala presented by Wendy’s on April 12, 2013, at The Los Angeles Athletic Club. The Gala will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners, All Americans and the Legends of Coaching Award winner, Kansas Head Coach Bill Self.

Other players at the top of the national statistical rankings on the ballot include Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford, who ranks in the top 10 in the country in both scoring (22.4 ppg, 6th) and rebounding (13.1, 4th), and Baylor’s Odyssey Sims, who is No. 2 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.70). Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis of Connecticut leads the country in three point percentage (50.5%), while Ogwumike also tops the national charts in double-doubles (26).

Baylor (Griner, Sims), Connecticut (Mosqueda-Lewis, Stefanie Dolson), and Duke (Chelsea Gray, Elizabeth Williams), all three ranked in the nation’s top five this week, had two players named to the Wooden Award ballot. The ACC nabbed four of the 15 selections, followed by the Big East and SEC each with three; the Big 12 had two; and the CAA, Big Ten and Pac-12 had one apiece. No freshmen were chosen, and only two sophomores made the list: Mosqueda-Lewis and Williams. Duke’s Gray suffered a season-ending knee injury in the third week of February, but was named to the ballot on the strength of her play this season.

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).

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 or going to the Wooden Award facebook page athttp://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward.  For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5206 or via email at [email protected].

2012-13 John R. Wooden Award^®
Women’s Ballot

Players listed alphabetically.

# 2012 Wooden Award winner • $ 2012 Wooden All American • % 2011 Wooden All American