Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year

Pac-12 Women's Basketball Player of the Year
Awarded forthe most outstanding basketball player in the Pac-12 Conference
CountryUnited States
First awarded1987
Currently held byCameron Brink, Stanford

The Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year is a dormant basketball award given to the Pac-12 Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1986–87 season, the first year in which the league then known as the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) officially sponsored women's sports.

Two bodies voted for players of the year. The league's head coaches selected a winner since the award's inception, while media members who cover Pac-12 women's basketball presented their own version of the award in the 2009–10 season.[1] As is the case with the corresponding men's award, coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.[2]

Ten players have won the award more than once, but only two, Candice Wiggins of Stanford and Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon, have won three times, and only Ionescu has won all three awards consecutively. Six players have won a major end-of-season national award in the year that they won the conference award. Four of them are from Stanford: Jennifer Azzi claimed the Naismith Award and Wade Trophy in 1990; Kate Starbird won the Naismith Award in 1997; Wiggins received the Wade Trophy in 2008; and Chiney Ogwumike won the Wooden Award in 2014.[3] The others are Kelsey Plum of Washington, who won all three major awards in 2017,[4][5][6] and Ionescu, who received the Wade Trophy and Wooden Award in 2019[7][8] and all three major awards in 2020.[9][10][11]

There have been four shared awards. Starbird and Tanja Kostić of Oregon State tied for the coaches' award in 1996. In 2015, Reshanda Gray of California won the coaches' award and Ruth Hamblin of Oregon State won the media award. The following year, Jamie Weisner of Oregon State won the coaches' award outright and shared the media award with Jillian Alleyne of Oregon. Most recently, Stanford teammates Cameron Brink and Haley Jones shared honors in 2022, with Brink receiving the media award and Jones the coaches' award.

For most of the award's history, the list of honorees has been dominated by Stanford, which has had 12 players earn a total of 20 awards. The rest of the conference has had 17 players earn a total of 19 awards. However, Stanford's 2022 awards were the Cardinal's first since the 2013–14 season. Three of the then-Pac-12 members have never had a winner: established members Arizona State and Washington State, plus 2011 arrival Colorado.

The Pac-12 lost all but two of its members after the 2023–24 season, leading the remaining members, Oregon State and Washington State, to become affiliates of the West Coast Conference in most sports, including women's basketball, in 2024–25 and 2025–26.[12] However, in a span of less than three weeks in September 2024, the Pac-12 added six new members effective in 2026–27—Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Utah State.[13][14][15] With eight confirmed members, conference play is expected to resume in 2026, with the award to again be presented starting in 2027.

  1. ^ "Media votes Alleyne, Weisner Players of the Year" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  2. ^ "Pac-12 announces women's basketball honors" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. February 29, 2016. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  3. ^ "National Honors". 2015–16 Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Media Guide. Pac-12 Conference. p. 63. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  4. ^ "Washington's Kelsey Plum Named 2017 Citizen Naismith Trophy Winner" (Press release). Atlanta Tipoff Club. April 1, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  5. ^ "Wade Trophy Winner Kelsey Plum of Washington Headlines 2017 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches' All-American Team" (Press release). Women's Basketball Coaches Association. April 1, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  6. ^ "Kelsey Plum Wins 2017 John R. Wooden Award" (Press release). Washington Huskies. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  7. ^ "Wade Trophy Winner Sabrina Ionescu Headlines 2019 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches' All-America Team" (Press release). Women's Basketball Coaches Association. April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  8. ^ "Winners Named for John R. Wooden Award During College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy's on ESPN2" (Press release). Los Angeles Athletic Club. April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  9. ^ "Ionescu and Toppin Named 2020 Citizen Naismith Trophy Winners" (Press release). Atlanta Tipoff Club. April 3, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  10. ^ "Wade Trophy Winner Sabrina Ionescu Headlines 2020 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches' All-America Team" (Press release). Women's Basketball Coaches Association. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  11. ^ "Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu Wins 2020 John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's" (Press release). Los Angeles Athletic Club. April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  12. ^ Forsman, Cole (2023-12-21). "West Coast Conference votes to add Washington State, Oregon State in non-football sports". Gonzaga Nation. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
  13. ^ "Ushering in a new era, the Pac-12 Conference strengthens its legacy by welcoming four respected academic and athletic universities" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  14. ^ "Pac-12 Conference and Utah State University Unite to Advance the New Era of the 100-Year-Old Legacy" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. September 24, 2024. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  15. ^ "Pac-12 Conference and Gonzaga University Unite to Build a Basketball Powerhouse, Advancing the New Era of the Conference's 100-Year Legacy" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. September 30, 2024. Retrieved October 1, 2024.