LOS ANGELES — University of Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark was named the Wooden Award National Player of the Year, which is presented annually to the most outstanding women’s basketball player who achieves tremendous on-court success. The announcement was made on Thursday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Joining Clark as a finalist for the esteemed award are Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Cameron Brink (Stanford), Mackenzie Holmes (Indiana), and Maddy Siegrist (Villanova). All five players are invited to Los Angeles for the 47th annual presentation of the Wooden Award.
The Wooden Award Gala will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-America teams in Los Angeles on Friday, April 7.
Honorees were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the Wooden Award.
This marks the first time that an Iowa women’s basketball player has won the Wooden Award.
The most dominant player in women’s college basketball, Clark has already been recognized as the 2023 Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy, Associated Press, Ann Meyers Drysdale, and The Athletic National Player of the Year, as well as being voted the Big Ten Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. A unanimous first-team Associated Press and All-Big Ten honoree, Clark also excels in the classroom being voted the 2023 Academic All-American of the Year.
Clark finished the season averaging 27.8 points per game, 8.6 assists per game, and 7.1 rebounds per game. She became the first player in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to record 1,055 points and 320 assists in a single season. Both of which shattered Big Ten and school single-season records.
Clark helped lead the Hawkeyes to their first National Championship appearance in school history in her junior season.
𝐍𝐏𝐎𝐘 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐩 🤩@CaitlinClark22 is the winner of the @WoodenAward! #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/IDxOxEOxqd
— Iowa Women’s Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 4, 2023