The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 3/3 Women’s Basketball’s Rori Harmon and Shaylee Gonzales named to Wooden Award Watch List
11.15.2022 | Women's Basketball
Harmon and Gonzales are among early front-runners for Wooden All America Team and Most Outstanding Player Award.
AUSTIN, Texas — The John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's announced the Women's Preseason Top 50 Watch List on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team and Most Outstanding Player Award.
Harmon, who earned All-America honors as a freshman has been recognized on several preseason lists. Harmon is on the watch list for the Nancy Liberman Award, an honorable mention on the Associated Press Preseason All-America list, a second team selection on The Athletic Preseason All-America list, a unanimous selection on the preseason All-Big 12 team and ranked No. 10 on the ESPN list of returning women's college basketball players. Harmon broke the Texas freshmen assist record with 180 total assists and become the first freshmen in program history to earn All-America honors.
Gonzales, a 2021-22 AP All-America Honorable Mention honoree came to Austin after three seasons at BYU. Gonzales was the 2021-22 WCC Player of the Year and was selected to the Naismith Trophy midseason team. Gonzales averaged over 17 points a game in each of her three seasons at BYU and is 10th on the BYU all-time scoring list with 1,555 points.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2023 John R. Wooden Award Women's Player of the Year presented by Wendy's. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award midseason list, late season list and National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of the 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2023 John R. Wooden Award will be presented in Los Angeles in April.
