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March 29, 2007 LOS ANGELES - The John R. Wooden Award Committee today announced the five student-athletes named to the 2006-2007 Women's Wooden Award All-American Team. Each of the finalists will be invited to the Wooden Award presentation in Los Angeles. The Women's Wooden Award Player of the Year will be announced on Saturday, April 7, live during a national telecast on CBS Sports from The Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) at 2 p.m. EDT. A panel consisting of more than 200 voters including sports media and college basketball experts from across the nation had until 3 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 26 to cast their votes for both the five player All-American Team and the Women's Wooden Award Player of the Year as the most outstanding collegiate basketball player in the nation. In addition to on-court performance, voters were asked to base their votes on the student athlete's character and academic performance, essential components of the Wooden Award. The Women's Wooden Award All-Americans, in alphabetical order, are: Sylvia Fowles (LSU), Lindsey Harding (Duke), Ivory Latta (North Carolina), Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) and Candace Parker (Tennessee). In total, two seniors, one junior, and two sophomores were selected to the Women's Wooden Award All-American Team. Three conferences are represented on the All-American Team with the ACC and SEC each with two and the Big 12 with one representative. Sylvia Fowles is having a monster season for LSU scoring 17.2 ppg and pulling down 12.7 rpg. She is playing extremely well as the Tigers head to the Final Four for the fourth straight season. Duke had a special season led by their senior leader Lindsey Harding. The Blue Devils floor general displayed an exceptional all-around game as she averaged 14.1 ppg and 2.5 steals per game. Harding and Duke finished with a great overall record of 30-2. Ivory Latta has directed the Tar Heels season including their post season run. Latta is netting 16.1 ppg for North Carolina this year as they currently post a 33-3 overall record. This is her second straight Wooden Award All-American selection. Courtney Paris in only her second season is one of the most dominant players in Women's college basketball history. Her season stats speak for themselves; she averaged 23.5 ppg and 15.9 rpg, both top five in the nation.
Paris posted arguably the best individual game of the season when she scored 43 points and grabbed 25 rebounds in a late December contest against New Mexico. This is also the second straight Wooden Award All-American selection for Paris. Candace Parker has proven to be one of the best all-around players in the country while appearing at every position at some point in the season for Tennessee. She leads the Lady Vols with 19.7 ppg and 9.6 rpg. "It's been a thrilling year for all the Wooden Award candidates and all of the finalists are well- deserving of the award," said Duke Llewellyn, founder and chairman of the Wooden Award. "It's a difficult task for the committee to select only one athlete. The anticipation is building and we look forward to the ceremony and the crowning of this year's Wooden Award Player of the Year." For the first time in Wooden Award history, college basketball fans were able to cast their vote for the Wooden Award Player of the Year. Fans had the option of voting online at www.WoodenAward.com or by text messaging. Nearly 50,000 fans cast their vote and over 19,900 of those were cast for the Women's Wooden Award Player of the Year. With 6,200 votes, Candace Parker of Tennessee finished as the fan's choice for Women's Wooden Award. The rest of the fan's top five includes Lindsey Harding (Duke), Sylvia Fowles (LSU) Ivory Latta (North Carolina) and Armintie Price (Mississippi). Men's results are included in the Men's Wooden Award All-American Team release. The 2007 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Men's and Women's Wooden Award, the Wooden Award All-American Teams, and the Legends of Coaching Award to recipient Gene Keady of Purdue University, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 7, 2007. The top five female and male finalists will be invited to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony and will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their university's general scholarship fund. About the John R. Wooden Award Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Andrew Bogut ('05), and last year's recipients, Seimone Augustus ('06) and J.J. Redick ('06). Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the All-American recipients as well as sent over 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the awards name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All-American selections, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on the Friday prior to the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony. Women's Wooden Award All-American Team
*Indicates player was a 2005-2006 Wooden Award All-American |
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