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Ann Meyers Drysdale Award

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Ann Meyers Drysdale Award
Awarded forThe best women's college basketball shooting guard in the United States
CountryUnited States
Presented byNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame &
Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)
First awarded2018
Currently held byJuJu Watkins, USC
WebsiteAnn Meyers Drysdale Award

The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball shooting guard in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale (née Meyers), the first high school player to make the United States national team and the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA.

Creation and selection

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The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award was first presented in 2018, when WBCA and the Naismith Hall, in collaboration with ESPN, incorporated the Nancy Lieberman Award, first presented in 2000 to the top Division I women's point guard, into a new set of awards known as the "Naismith Starting Five" that are presented at the WBCA convention (except in 2020, when the convention was not held due to the coronavirus pandemic) to players at each of the five traditional basketball positions. These awards parallel a previously existing set of men's basketball positional awards also presented by the Hall. In addition to the Lieberman Award, the other three new awards are:[1]

Winners for each of the Starting Five awards are determined by a selection committee consisting of Hall of Famers, WBCA coaching members, and media, and headed by the award's namesake. Fan voting through the Hall's website is also incorporated into the selection process.

Key

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* Awarded, in addition, a national Player of the Year award:
the Naismith College Player of the Year, Wade Trophy or the John R. Wooden Award
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has received the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award

Winners

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Season Player School Class Ref.
2017–18 Victoria Vivians Mississippi State Senior
2018–19 Asia Durr Louisville Senior [2]
2019–20 Aari McDonald Arizona Junior [3]
2020–21 Ashley Owusu Maryland Sophomore [4]
2021–22 Christyn Williams UConn Senior [5]
2022–23 Zia Cooke South Carolina Senior
2023–24 JuJu Watkins USC Freshman

Winners by school

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School Winners Years
Arizona 1 2020
Louisville 1 2019
Maryland 1 2021
Mississippi State 1 2018
South Carolina 1 2023
UConn 1 2022
USC 1 2024

See also

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  • Jerry West Award – the counterpart to the Meyers Drysdale Award; given to the best men's NCAA shooting guard

References

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  1. ^ "Naismith Starting 5". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  2. ^ "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Name Winners of Five Women's College Basketball Awards". www.hoophall.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  3. ^ "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Name Winners of Five Women's College Basketball Awards". www.hoophall.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  4. ^ "Basketball Hall of Fame Reveals Winners of Women's Naismith Starting Five Awards" (Press release). Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. April 4, 2021. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  5. ^ "Basketball Hall of Fame & Women's Basketball Coaches Association Announce Winners of Women's Naismith Starting Five Awards" (Press release). Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
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