Ann 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. Meyers was also the first player, male or female, named to an All-America team in four straight seasons. She played on the first women's Olympic team in 1976 and became the first woman drafted into the Women's Basketball League. Meyers made history when she became the first female player to try out for a NBA team.[1]
Ann Meyers Drysdale Award | |
---|---|
Awarded for | The best women's college basketball shooting guard in the United States |
Country | United States |
Presented by | Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame & Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) |
First awarded | 2018 |
Currently held by | Aari McDonald, Arizona |
Website | Ann Meyers Drysdale Award |
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:[2]
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
* | 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
Season | Player | School | Class | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017–18 | Victoria Vivians | Mississippi State | Senior | |
2018–19 | Asia Durr | Louisville | Senior | [3] |
2019–20 | Aari McDonald | Arizona | Junior | [4] |
Winners by school
School | Winners | Years |
---|---|---|
Mississippi State | 1 | 2018 |
Louisville | 1 | 2019 |
Arizona | 1 | 2020 |
See also
- Jerry West Award – the counterpart to the Meyers Drysdale Award; given to the best men's NCAA shooting guard
References
- "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Announce Four New Women's College Basketball Awards". www.hoophall.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
- "Naismith Starting 5". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
- "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.
- "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.