The Pac-12 Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year is a dormant

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

award given to the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1986–87 season, the first year in which the league then known as the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) officially sponsored women's sports. Two bodies voted for players of the year. The league's head coaches selected a winner since the award's inception, while media members who cover Pac-12 women's basketball presented their own version of the award in the 2009–10 season. As is the case with the corresponding men's award, coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players. Ten players have won the award more than once, but only two, Candice Wiggins of

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

and Sabrina Ionescu of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, have won three times, and only Ionescu has won all three awards consecutively. Six players have won a major end-of-season national award in the year that they won the conference award. Four of them are from Stanford:

Jennifer Azzi Jennifer Lynn Azzi ( ; born August 31, 1968), is an American business development officer and former basketball player and coach. Since 2021, she has been the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. Azzi played collegiate bask ...

claimed the Naismith Award and

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

in 1990; Kate Starbird won the Naismith Award in 1997; Wiggins received the Wade Trophy in 2008; and

Chiney Ogwumike Chinenye Joy "Chiney" Ogwumike (born March 21, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2020, she became the first black woman and th ...

won the Wooden Award in 2014. The others are Kelsey Plum of

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, who won all three major awards in 2017, and Ionescu, who received the Wade Trophy and Wooden Award in 2019 and all three major awards in 2020. There have been four shared awards. Starbird and

Tanja Kostić Tanja Kostić (; born November 10, 1972) is a Swedish retired women's basketball player best known for playing with the Oregon State Beavers from 1993 to 1996. She won a EuroLeague Women in 1998 with CJM Bourges Basket. Early life Kostic was b ...

of Oregon State tied for the coaches' award in 1996. In 2015, Reshanda Gray of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

won the coaches' award and Ruth Hamblin of Oregon State won the media award. The following year, Jamie Weisner of Oregon State won the coaches' award outright and shared the media award with Jillian Alleyne of

. Most recently, Stanford teammates Cameron Brink and Haley Jones shared honors in 2022, with Brink receiving the media award and Jones the coaches' award. For most of the award's history, the list of honorees has been dominated by Stanford, which has had 12 players earn a total of 20 awards. The rest of the conference has had 17 players earn a total of 19 awards. However, Stanford's 2022 awards were the Cardinal's first since the 2013–14 season. Three of the then-Pac-12 members have never had a winner: established members Arizona State and

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, plus 2011 arrival

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. The Pac-12 lost all but two of its members after the 2023–24 season, leading the remaining members, Oregon State and Washington State, to become affiliates of the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

in most sports, including women's basketball, in 2024–25 and 2025–26. However, in a span of less than three weeks in September 2024, the Pac-12 added six new members effective in 2026–27—

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

, Colorado State,

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, Gonzaga,

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

, and Utah State. With eight confirmed members, conference play is expected to resume in 2026, with the award to again be presented starting in 2027.

Key

Winners

Winners by school

Footnotes

References

General

* List of winners through 2014–15: * Classes of winners: All award winners but four—Landerholm (1987), Nelson (1988), Ragland (2001), and Pohlen (2011)—were on the conference's All-Freshman Team. Extrapolating from the conference's list of All-Freshman Team members allows a Player of the Year's class to be determined.

Specific

{{Women's college basketball award navbox Awards established in 1987

Player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

NCAA Division I women's basketball conference players of the year