The Big East Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year award is given to the women's basketball player in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

voted as the top performer by the conference coaches. It was first awarded at the end of the 1982–83 season, the first in which the Big East sponsored women's basketball. The current Big East claims the history of the original Big East Conference, which split along football lines in 2013, with three members leaving to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, the seven members that did not field teams in

NCAA Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

leaving to form a new Big East Conference, and the remaining FBS schools continuing to operate under the original Big East charter with the new name of

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(The American). The head coaches of the league's teams submit their votes following the end of the regular season and before the conference's

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

in early March. The coaches cannot vote for their own players. The first award went to Debbie Beckford of St. John's in 1983. There have been six multiple winners so far. Rebecca Lobo and Diana Taurasi, both of

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from ...

, and Notre Dame's

Skylar Diggins Skylar Kierra Diggins-Smith (born August 2, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Diggins was drafted third overall by the Tulsa Shock in the 2013 WNB ...

each won the award twice in their careers. Shelly Pennefather of Villanova and two UConn players,

Kerry Bascom Kerry Bascom (born March 3, 1969) is a retired American women's basketball player. She played forward and center for the Connecticut Huskies (UConn) from 1987 to 1991, scoring 2,177 points, a school record until broken in 1998 by Nykesha Sales. S ...

and

Maya Moore Maya April Moore (born June 11, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx, who is currently on sabbatical. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, ''Sports Illustrated'' called Moore the greatest ...

, were each three-time winners. Pennefather and Bascom won all of their awards consecutively, while Moore did not. So far, voting has resulted in a tie once, in 1984 when both Jennifer Bruce and Kathy Finn won the award. Eight players have also won National Player of the Year awards. Rebecca Lobo,

Ruth Riley Ruth Ellen Riley Hunter (born August 28, 1979) is a retired American professional basketball player (a center), playing most recently for the Atlanta Dream in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her Notre Dame team won the NCAA ...

, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi,

, and

Paige Bueckers Paige Madison Bueckers ( ; born October 20, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies of the Big East Conference. At Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Bueckers was ranked as th ...

are all recipients of the

Naismith College Player of the Year The Naismith College Player of the Year is an annual basketball award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the top men's and women's collegiate basketball players. It is named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. History an ...

award. Shelly Pennefather, Lobo,

Jennifer Rizzotti Jennifer Marie Rizzotti (born May 15, 1974) is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player, and former Division I coach at George Washington University. She is the president of the Connecticut Sun. Rizzotti was inducted into t ...

, Bird, Taurasi, and Moore are all recipients of the

Wade Trophy The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best upperclass women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State University coac ...

. Moore and Bueckers are also recipients of the

John R. Wooden Award The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award, and recognizing the ...

. UConn, a founding member of the original Big East that moved to The American with the conference split and joined the current Big East in 2020, has the most all-time awards, with 18, and the most individual winners, with 12. Apart from UConn, the only current Big East members with more than one winner are Villanova, with three players who combined to win five awards; DePaul, with three players who each won one award; and Creighton and Marquette, each with two players who claimed one award. Three current Big East members have yet to have a winner—

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

, which was a charter member of the Big East in 1979, and Butler and Xavier, both of which joined the Big East at its 2013 relaunch.

Key

Winners

Winners by school

References

{{Big East Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year navbox Awards established in 1983 * NCAA Division I women's basketball conference players of the year

Key

Winners

Winners by school

See also

References