What is the Wooden Award in college basketball? All we know about the prestigious trophy

The Wooden Award is one of the most prestigious awards in college basketball. It's given annually to men's and women's basketball players who excelled during the NCAA season.

Forty-six men's cagers have won the Wooden Award since it was first held in 1977, while 14 female players have received the accolade since 2004. Let's dive deeper into the accolade by exploring the criteria for judging the nominees and the past winners of the prestigious trophy.

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What is the Wooden Award in College Basketball?

Duke's Zion Williamson won the Wooden Award for men's basketball in 2019.

The Wooden Award is presented annually to the most outstanding collegiate player of the year in men's and women's basketball. It's named after John Wooden, who won the National Collegiate Player of the Year in 1932 while playing at Purdue and guided UCLA to 10 national titles as coach.

The Players of the Year for men's basketball are selected by a panel of 1,000 college basketball experts who come from the nation's 50 states. The women's version of the trophy is voted by 250 sportswriters and sportscasters around the US.

For the men's side, the 26-man National Advisory Board selects the 20 players who have excelled during the season and meet the criteria established by the Award's founders. As for the women's side, the 12-member National Advisory Board picks 15 candidates who are included in the ballot.

The winners of the Wooden Award are the players who receive the most votes for both genders. They are announced following the national championship game.

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What are the criteria for the Wooden Award?

Anthony Davis won the Wooden Award in 2012.

According to the Wooden Award website, the National Advisory Board picks and seeds the candidates for each category.

The players selected are certified by the university that they've met the criteria for the award. They include: candidates must be full-time students in their college or university; they must be full-time students that have a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 since enrolling in their school; must exhibit excellent on and off the court character; a team player that excels in both offense and defense and candidates are being evaluated on their performance in the entire season.

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Has anyone won the Wooden Award twice?

Sabrina Ionescu was a two-time Wooden Award winner in 2019 and 2020 when she was playing for Oregon.

Since its inception in 1977, only two men's basketball players have won the award twice.

The first was 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson, who won back-to-back Wooden awards in 1982 and 1983 while playing for Virginia. Forty-one years later, another seven-foot-four player duplicated Sampson's feat as Purdue's Zach Edey was voted the Wooden Award winner for being the outstanding men's basketball player in 2023 and 2024.

The women's side has had more two-time winners with seven. They are LSU's Seimone Augustus (2005-06), Tennessee's Candace Parker (2007-08), UConn's Maya Moore (2009 and 2011), Baylor's Brittney Griner (2012-13), UConn's Breanna Stewart (2015-16), Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (2019-20) and Iowa's Caitlin Clark (2023-24).

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Wooden Award winners by year

	MEN				WOMEN
Season	Player	School		Season	Player	School
1976-77	Marques Johnson	UCLA
1977-78	Phil Ford	North Carolina
1978-79	Larry Bird	Indiana State
1979-80	Darrell Griffith	Louisville
1980-81	Danny Ainge	BYU
1981-82	Ralph Sampson	Virginia
1982-83	Ralph Sampson	Virginia
1983-84	Michael Jordan	North Carolina
1984-85	Chris Mullin	St. John's
1985-86	Walter Berry	St. John's
1986-87	David Robinson	Navy
1987-88	Danny Manning	Kansas
1988-89	Sean Elliott	Arizona
1989-90	Lionel Simmons	La Salle
1990-91	Larry Johnson	UNLV
1991-92	Christian Laettner	Duke
1992-93	Calbert Cheaney	Indiana
1993-94	Glenn Robinson	Purdue
1994-95	Ed O'Bannon	UCLA
1995-96	Marcus Camby	UMass
1996-97	Tim Duncan	Wake Forest
1997-98	Antawn Jamison	North Carolina
1998-99	Elton Brand	Duke
1999-2000	Kenyon Martin	Cincinnati
2000-01	Shane Battier	Duke
2001-02	Jason Williams	Duke
2002-03	T. J. Ford	Texas
2003-04	Jameer Nelson	Saint Joseph's		2003-04	Alana Beard	Duke
2004-05	Andrew Bogut	Utah		2004-05	Seimone Augustus	LSU
2005-06	JJ Redick	Duke		2005-06	Seimone Augustus	LSU
2006-07	Kevin Durant	Texas		2006-07	Candace Parker	Tennessee
2007-08	Tyler Hansbrough	North Carolina		2007-08	Candace Parker	Tennessee
2008-09	Blake Griffin	Oklahoma		2008-09	Maya Moore	UConn
2009-10	Evan Turner	Ohio State		2009-10	Tina Charles	UConn
2010-11	Jimmer Fredette	BYU		2010-11	Maya Moore	UConn
2011-12	Anthony Davis	Kentucky		2011-12	Brittney Griner	Baylor
2012-13	Trey Burke	Michigan		2012-13	Brittney Griner	Baylor
2013-14	Doug McDermott	Creighton		2013-14	Chiney Ogwumike	Stanford
2014-15	Frank Kaminsky	Wisconsin		2014-15	Breanna Stewart	UConn
2015-16	Buddy Hield	Oklahoma		2015-16	Breanna Stewart	UConn
2016-17	Frank Mason III	Kansas		2016-17	Kelsey Plum	Washington
2017-18	Jalen Brunson	Villanova		2017-18	A'ja Wilson	South Carolina
2018-19	Zion Williamson	Duke		2018-19	Sabrina Ionescu	Oregon
2019-20	Obi Toppin	Dayton		2019-20	Sabrina Ionescu	Oregon
2020-21	Luka Garza	Iowa		2020-21	Paige Bueckers	UConn
2021-22	Oscar Tshiebwe	Kentucky		2021-22	Aliyah Boston	South Carolina
2022-23	Zach Edey	Purdue		2022-23	Caitlin Clark	Iowa
2023-24	Zach Edey	Purdue		2023-24	Caitlin Clark	Iowa