Notre Dame senior guard Megan Duffy was one of 25 players named to the 2005-06 State Farm Wade Trophy preseason candidate list, it was announced Wednesday. Duffy is one of four point guards on the list, joining UCLA's Nikki Blue, Texas Tech's Erin Grant and North Carolina's Ivory Latta.

Megan Duffy Named 2005-06 State Farm Wade Trophy Preseason Candidate

Aug. 17, 2005

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second time in the past week, Notre Dame senior point guard Megan Duffy (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne HS) has been selected as a preseason candidate for a prestigious national player of the year award. On Wednesday, Duffy was one of 25 players named to the 2005-06 State Farm Wade Trophy Preseason List, as announced by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Last week, Duffy was one of 30 players named preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Women’s Award.

This year marks Duffy’s first appearance on both the State Farm Wade Trophy and Wooden Women’s Award preseason watch lists and the third consecutive year that an Irish women’s basketball player has received preseason accolades on those squads. Prior to the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons, All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast (now with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx) was selected for both preseason watch lists, going on to make the final Wooden Award ballot in ’04-05 and earning a berth on the elite 10-player Kodak/WBCA All-America Team that same year.

Duffy currently is serving as a co-captain on the USA World University Games Team, which is competing in Izmir, Turkey. She has started all five games thus far (the U.S. was scheduled to face Russia Wednesday in a medal round semifinal), averaging 7.2 points per game, while ranking second on the team with 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per night. She also leads Team USA with a .412 three-point percentage (7-of-17) and owns a 1.88 assist/turnover ratio (15 assists, eight turnovers).

Duffy was an Associated Press honorable mention All-America and Kodak/WBCA All-Region 1 choice last season and is a top candidate for the 2006 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (top senior player in the nation under 5-foot-8). She will be arguably the top returning point guard in the BIG EAST Conference next season after becoming only the second Irish floor general ever to receive All-America status. Also a first-team all-BIG EAST choice in 2004-05, Duffy ranked second on the team in scoring (12.3 ppg.) and led the conference in both steals (2.73 spg.) and free throw percentage (.895), placing fourth in the country with a school-record mark in the latter category. In addition, she was second in the BIG EAST in assists (5.39 apg.), trailing only West Virginia’s Yolanda Paige (a 2005 second-round WNBA draft pick by the Indiana Fever), and seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.73), and earned a spot on the Preseason WNIT and BIG EAST Championship all-tournament teams. Her 90 steals were the fifth-most in school history (second among Irish juniors) and her 1,222 minutes played were second in school annals, just five minutes short of Beth Morgan’s record of 1,227 in 1996-97. Duffy did set a new school standard by averaging 37.0 minutes per game, smashing Mary Gavin’s old mark of 35.1 in 1986-87.

The lone returning captain on the Notre Dame roster for 2005-06, Duffy was at her best during the ’05 postseason, averaging 19.5 points, 4.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game with a .579 field goal percentage and .611 three-point percentage in four games. She helped lead Notre Dame to a 27-6 record in 2004-05, tying its third-highest win total ever, as well as the 12th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history (10th in a row) and the program’s 12th consecutive 20-win season. The Irish advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Arizona State, 70-61. Still, Notre Dame was ranked 11th in the final Associated Press poll of the season and 15th in the year-end ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

Duffy is one of four BIG EAST players who are on the 2005-06 State Farm Wade Trophy preseason candidate list. The others include: Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers), Khara Smith (DePaul) and Ann Strother (Connecticut). Only the Atlantic Coast Conference had more players (seven) on the list than the BIG EAST, while the Southeastern Conference also had four players chosen.

A national awards committee consisting of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball administrators compiled the State Farm Wade Trophy preseason list, tapping student-athletes who are members of an NCAA Division I institution and are selected based on the following criteria: game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability. The State Farm Wade Trophy, now in its 28th year and named after the late, legendary three-time national champion Delta State University coach, Lily Margaret Wade, debuted in 1978 as the first-ever women’s national player of the year award in college basketball. This most prestigious award, regarded as the “Heisman of Women’s Basketball”, is organized by the WBCA, in conjunction with the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS).

Last year’s State Farm Wade Trophy recipient was Seimone Augustus (LSU). The 2006 State Farm Wade Trophy winner will be announced during the WBCA National Convention held in conjunction with the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Boston, Mass., March 31-April 4, 2006.

— ND —

2005-06 State Farm Wade Trophy Preseason Candidate List
Seimone Augustus, LSU
Nikki Blue, UCLA
Monique Currie, Duke
Jessica Davenport, Ohio State
Shay Doron, Maryland
Megan Duffy, Notre Dame
Candice Dupree, Temple
Sylvia Fowles, LSU
Erin Grant, Texas Tech
Tasha Humphrey, Georgia
Tiffany Jackson, Texas
Tamara James, Miami (Fla.)
Crystal Langhorne, Maryland
Erlana Larkins, North Carolina
Ivory Latta, North Carolina
Shawntinice Polk, Arizona
Cappie Pondexter, Rutgers
Liz Shimek, Michigan State
Khara Smith, DePaul
Kim Smith, Utah
Tiffany Stansbury, North Carolina State
Ann Strother, Connecticut
Candice Wiggins, Stanford
Sophia Young, Baylor
Shanna Zolman, Tennessee