LOS ANGELES, CA (March 3, 2018) – The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2018 National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award® Presented by Wendy’s® today on ESPNU during the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. Selected by the Wooden Award™ National Advisory Board, the list is comprised of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All American Team™ and the Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding women’s college basketball player in the United States.

On the National Ballot, Connecticut (Napheesa Collier, Katie Lou Samuelson, and Gabby Williams) and Mississippi State (Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians), the two teams with an undefeated regular season, are the only schools with multiple players on the list. The SEC leads all conferences with four players on the National Ballot, followed by the ACC and The American with three selections each, the Big Ten and Pac-12 with two apiece, and the Big 12 with one selection.

All balloted players have been certified by their university to meet or exceed the qualifications for the Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden when the Award was established. The qualifications include: candidates must exhibit strength of character, both on and off the court; candidates must be full-time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; candidates must be making progress toward graduation and have a cumulative 2.00 grade point average since enrolling in their school; candidates must contribute to team effort; candidates must excel in both offense and defense; and candidates should be considered on their performance over the course of the entire season.

Voting will take place from March 13^th to March 20^th, and voters, consisting of hundreds of members of the national college basketball media, take into consideration a player’s entire season of play, as well as the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players and the finalists for the Wooden Award, widely considered the most prestigious honor in college basketball, will be announced following the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament and will be the focus of a 30-minute show March 28^th on ESPNU at 8pm ET.

The 42^nd annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award to the men’s and women’s most  outstanding college basketball player will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s on ESPN2 on Friday, April 6, 2018. The men’s and women’s John R. Wooden Award All American Teams will be honored during the ceremony, and the 2018 Wooden Award Legends of Coaching Trophy will be presented to Jay Wright, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Villanova.

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 basketball player at an NCAA Division I university who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress towards graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 & ’08), Maya Moore (’09 & ’11), and last year’s recipients, Kelsey Plum of Washington and Frank Mason III of Kansas.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.

For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.

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John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s

2017-18 Women’s National Ballot

# indicates player selected as a 2016-17 Wooden Award All American