Two of Notre Dame’s finest continue to play big roles in the national conversation.
On Tuesday, 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 composed 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.
Sophomore point guard Olivia Miles and junior forward Maddy Westbeld are among those who made the cut. South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, who won last year’s award, headlines the group on the women’s side.
Miles led the Irish last season with 13.7 points and 7.4 assists per game, and she is making an impact once again in her second full year in South Bend. Through a pair of games against Northern Illinois and Cal, Miles is averaging 15.0 points, 8.0 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game. She has posted two doubles-doubles — one was a points-rebounds performance (NIU, 17/10), while the other was points-assists (Cal, 13/10).
Westbeld has been a dominant force on both sides of the court for Notre Dame this season as well. In addition to posting 12.5 points per contest, she is averaging 3.0 blocks per game (second in the ACC). She posted a career-high four blocks in the opener against NIU.
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. Among the conference selections from the ACC is ACC Preseason Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley, a center at Virginia Tech.
Players not chosen in the preseason are still eligible to win the award. There will be a midseason, late season and National Ballot, which will consist of 15 players. 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.