LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 9, 2021) - The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® announced the Women’s Preseason Top 50 Watch List on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.

2021 Wooden Award winner Paige Bueckers (Connecticut) headlines the list along with 2021 Wooden Award All Americans Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), and NaLyssa Smith (Baylor). Several schools have multiple selections on the list: Connecticut (Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards, Azzi Fudd,  Olivia Nelson-Ododa, , and Christyn Williams) leads all schools with five selections, followed by Baylor (Queen Egbo, Jordan Lewis, and Smith), South Carolina (Boston, Zia Cooke, and Destanni Henderson), and Stanford (Cameron Brink, Lexie Hull, and Haley Jones) with three selections each. Several other school have multiple players on the list: Georgia Tech (Lorela Cubaj and Lotta-Maj Lathinen), Iowa (Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano), Maryland (Diamond Miller and Ashley Owusu), Michigan (Leigha Brown and Naz Hillmon), Mississippi State (Anatasia Hayes and Rickea Jackson), NC State (Jakia Brown-Turner and Elissa Cunane), Oregon (Te-Hina Paopao and Nyara Sabally), and Virginia Tech (Elizabeth Kitley and Aisha Sheppard).

The list represents eight conferences: the Pac-12 leads all conferences with 10 selections, followed by the SEC and Big Ten with nine each, the ACC with eight, the Big 12 with seven, the Big East with five and the Summit and ASUN with one selection apiece.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2022 John R. Wooden Award Women’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2022 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s following the NCAA Tournament in April.

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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John R. Wooden Award

Presented by Wendy’s

Preseason Top 50

*indicates player selected as 2020-21 Wooden Award All American

**indicates player selected as 2020-21 Wooden Award Winner