Hannah Hidalgo, Paige Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith and other players shortlisted for NCAA's prestigious Wooden Award 

UConn Huskies duo Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong and TCU Horned Frogs pair Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince are the latest players named to the Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List on Tuesday. The award is given to the best college basketball player each season by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

The star duos from the Huskies and Horned Frogs are two of four pairs selected for the watchlist. The other two pairings are Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles and LSU Tigers' Flau'jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow.

With that, the current slate of the top 20 players in the nation looks like this (unranked):

• Lauren Betts - UCLA Bruins
• Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles - Notre Dame
• Sedona Prince and Hailey Van Lith - TCU
• Te-Hina Paopao - South Carolina
• Talaysia Cooper - Tennessee Lady Vols
• JuJu Watkins - USC
• Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong - UConn
• Aneesah Morrow and Flau'jae Johnson - LSU
• Ta'Niya Latson - Florida State
• Madison Booker - Texas
• Georgia Amoore - Kentucky Wildcats
• Audi Crooks - Iowa State
• Mikayla Blakes - Vanderbilt Commodores
• Cotie McMahon - Ohio State
• Aziaha James - NC State
• Yvonne Ejim - Gonzaga

In the past, WNBA stars like Caitlin Clark (2023-24), Aliyah Boston (2022), Sabrina Ionescu (2019-20) and A'ja Wilson (2018) have won the prestigious award.

NCAA analyst believes Paige Bueckers is far from the top player this season

Analyst Robin Lundberg believes UConn's senior guard is yet to catch up to players like Hannah Hidalgo, JuJu Watkins and Lauren Betts to make a case for her dominance this season.

"She's far from the best player in college," Lundberg said on his podcast that was shared on YouTube Friday.

"Obviously, Hannah Hidalgo has been better, Lauren Betts ain't a guard but she has been better, JuJu's been better. You know there's more. I can keep going on about players that have been better than Paige Bueckers," he added.

(from 3:20 mark onwards)

Paige Bueckers is the only active college basketball player to have lifted the Wooden Award (2021). However, Lundberg's picks overtake her this season when it comes to production or leading UConn to victories.

Her 18.8 points per game is ranked 38th in the NCAA and 10th when considering the Wooden Award candidates. Moreover, she has led her team to a 3-3 run against ranked teams, while all the wins have come against teams outside the top 10 bracket.