The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2021 John R. Wooden Award® Presented by Wendy’s® All American Team™ on ESPNU today. The Wooden Award All American Team is comprised of five student athletes who were the top vote-getters in the quest to earn college basketball’s most prestigious honor. The five-player team, alphabetically, consists of: Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Paige Bueckers (Connecticut), Dana Evans (Louisville), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), and NaLyssa Smith (Baylor).

Voting took place from March 16-23, 2021. As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the Award’s creation 44 years ago, all players were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the John R. Wooden Award. The 45^th annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award to the women’s most outstanding college basketball player will take place on Monday, April 5^th, on SportsCenter on ESPN.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college
basketball recognizing the Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, the Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legends of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), Breanna Stewart (’15; ’16) and last year’s recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Obi Toppin of Dayton.

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 usually hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend. Due to the pandemic, the tournament is on pause.

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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Wooden Award

Presented by Wendy’s

2020-21 Women’s All American Team