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Alexa PhilippouESPN
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- Covers women’s college basketball and WNBA.
- Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant.
- Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer.
Two players from South Carolina and a couple from Stanford lead the 15-player national ballot for the 2022 John R. Wooden Award, an annual award given to the best female college basketball player in the country.
Alia Boston of the Gamecocks No. 1, considered by many as National Player of the Year favorite, and Destanny Henderson were among the final 15 picks, as were Final Four standouts Hayley Jones and Cameron Brink to defend national champion Stanford. , which ranks second.
Finalists for the Women’s Wood Award
| Player | School |
|---|---|
| Shakira Austin | Ole Miss |
| Alia Boston | South Carolina |
| Cameron Brink | Stanford |
| Caitlin Clark | Iowa |
| Elissa Coonan | state of North Carolina |
| Destanny Henderson | South Carolina |
| Naz Hillmon | Michigan |
| Ryan Howard | Kentucky |
| Ashley Jones | Iowa |
| Haley Jones | Stanford |
| Ayoka Lee | Kansas State |
| Anisa Morrow | DePaul |
| Hayla Pointer | LSU |
| Angel Reese | Maryland |
| NaLissa Smith | Baylor |
Iowa sophomore Caitlin Clark, also in the National Player of the Year conversation, is a Wooden finalist, as is DePaul’s Anisa Morrow, who amassed 23 straight double-doubles and is the only freshman to appear on the list.
Assumed top two picks for the 2022 WNBA Draft Na, Lissa Smith (Baylor) — 2021 Wade Trophy winner — and Ryan Howard (Kentucky) are among the finalists.
Of the four Power 5 conferences that named their Players of the Year, three of those athletes made the list: Clark (Big Ten), Jones (Pac-12), and Boston (SEC). ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Keatley (Virginia Tech) was not named a Wooden finalist.
Hayla Pointer of LSU was a finalist after failing to make the top 20 at the end of the season.
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Paige Buekers, the 2021 Wood Award winner, did not appear as a nominee in the last few iterations of the award’s watchlist. Bukers missed 19 games for UConn while recovering from a tibial plateau fracture and a torn meniscus in her left knee before returning in the Huskies’ penultimate regular season game.
A 10-player Wooden All-American team will be announced after Elite Eight. The best participants will be invited to the Wooden Award presentation in Los Angeles in April.