LOS ANGELES, CA (March 30, 2022) – The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2022 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), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Naz Hillmon (Michigan), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), and NaLyssa Smith (Baylor).  All five players have been invited to Los Angeles for the 46^th annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s Gala.

Voting took place from March 15-22, 2022. As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the Award’s creation 45 years ago, all players were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the John R. Wooden Award. The 19^th annual John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s Women’s Player of the Year will be announced on Monday, April 4^th, on SportsCenter on ESPN.  The John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy’s Gala 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 Rick Byrd.  The Gala will take place at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, April 8^th.

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 and ’16) and last year’s recipients, Paige Bueckers of Connecticut and Luka Garza of Iowa.

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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Wooden Award

Presented by Wendy’s

2021-22 Women’s All American Team

* indicates player selected as 2021 Wooden Award All American

+ indicates players selected as 2020 Wooden Award All American

John R. Wooden Award, John R. Wooden Award All American Team, Wooden Award All American Team, Wooden Watch, Wooden Award and the player silhouettes are trademarks or registered trademarks of LAACO, Ltd.  Wendy’s is a registered trademark of Wendy’s International, LLC.  Used with permission.