LOS ANGELES – UCLA's Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kiki Rice have been named to the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal Announces 2024-25 Women's Preseason Top 50 Watch List as released by the Los Angeles Athletic Club Thursday.
UCLA is one of four schools to have three selections on the Preseason Top 50: LSU, Texas and crosstown rival USC join the Bruins with a trio of student-athletes to watch. Only Notre Dame boasts more student-athletes on the Wooden Watch List with four.
Leger-Walker and Rice were announced as two of the top 20 guards on the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award Preseason Watchlist, and Betts was recognized on the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award list as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame earlier in November.
Created in 1976, the Los Angeles Athletic Club John R. Wooden Award ProgramTM hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All AmericaTM Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award® Legend of Coaching recipient. Wooden Award® All Americans have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award® as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award® Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Kevin Durant ('07), Candace Parker ('07; '08), Maya Moore ('09; '11), Breanna Stewart ('15; '16), and the last two year's ('23 &'24) recipients, Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Zach Edey of Purdue.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award® has made charitable gifts of nearly one million dollars in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award® partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award® Special Olympics basketball day. The event brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award® All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award® Weekend.
The Wooden Award® Legends of Coaching honoree for 2025 is Mark Few of Gonzaga who will be presented his honor along with the Wooden Award® Men's and Women's Players of the Year on April 11, 2025. For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award®, please go to http://www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award® on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
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