Nov. 29, 2017
ATLANTA – The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its early front-runners for the 2018 Wade Trophy on Wednesday afternoon, with Notre Dame junior guard Arike Ogunbowale making the 25-player watch list. The Wade Trophy, now in its 41st year, is presented annually to the best player in college women’s basketball.
Ogunbowale picks up her third watch list honor of the 2017-18 season, after already being named to the John R Wooden Award Preseason Top-30 and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Top-20.
The Milwaukee native is one-of-two Irish players to have scored in double-figures in all six games, ultimately leading Notre Dame in scoring with her 18.8 points per game, which ranks fifth in the ACC.
Ogunbowale is also fresh off her second career 5-5-5 game in the win over No. 3/2 South Carolina, earning seven rebounds, five assists and a season high 23 points.
The Wade Watch list is composed of 25 players selected by the WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America Selection Committee. The committee will review the list in January to determine if additional players will be added based on their play during the first half of the 2017-18 season.
The WBCA will announce the four finalists for the honor in mid-March. The winner of the 2018 Wade Trophy will be announced during ESPN2’s telecast of the 2018 NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinal games on March 30.
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Josh Bates joined Fighting Irish Media as associate athletics communications director in July of 2017, serving as the women’s basketball and men’s golf contact. Bates earned both his bachelor’s (2011) and master’s (2014) degree in sports management from the University of Illinois. He also worked as a grad assistant at Illinois from 2012-14 and worked full-time at Tulane University from 2014-17.