LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 15, 2022) - The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® announced the Women’s Preseason Top 50 Watch List on ESPN’s SportsCenter and 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.

2022 Wooden Award winner Aliyah Boston (South Carolina) headlines the list along with 2022 Wooden Award All American Caitlin Clark (Iowa). Several schools have multiple selections on the list, led by South Carolina (Brea Beal, Boston and Zia Cooke), Tennessee (Jordan Horston, Rickea Jackson and Tamari Key) and Virginia Tech (Elizabeth Kitley, Ashley Owusu and Taylor Soule) with three selections each.  They are followed by Iowa (Clark and Monika Czinano), Iowa State (Lexi Donarski and Ashley Joens), Indiana (Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes), LSU (Alexis Morris and Angel Reese), Louisville (Morgan Jones and Hailey Van Lith), NC State (Jakia Brown-Turner and Diamond Johnson), Notre Dame (Olivia Miles and Maddy Westbeld), Ohio State (Taylor Mikesell and Jacy Sheldon), Oklahoma (Taylor Robertson and Madi Williams), Stanford (Cameron Brink and Haley Jones), and Texas (Shaylee Gonzales and Rori Harmon).

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

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2023 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 2023 John R. Wooden Award will be presented in Los Angeles 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 America Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend 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), and last year’s recipients, Aliyah Boston of South Carolina and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky.

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.

The Legends of Coaching Award will be presented along with the Wooden Award Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year on April 7, 2023. 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 2021-22 Wooden Award All American

**indicates player selected as 2021-22 Wooden Award Winner