Alia Boston, Haley Jones and Kaitlyn Clark are among the finalists for the Wooden Prize

Two South Carolina players and a pair from Stanford top the 15-player national ballot for the 2022 John R. Wooden Award, awarded annually to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player.

Gamecocks #1 High Bostonwho is largely considered the best national player of the year, and Destiny Henderson He cut off the last 15 nominees, as did the Final Four Most Distinguished Champion Halle Jones And the Cameron Brink To defend the national champion Stanford, which ranks second.

Iowa student Caitlin Clarkalso speaking of National Player of the Year, made it to the wooden finals, as did DePaul Anissa Morowho collected 23 doubles in a row and is the only new student to appear on the list.

2022 WNBA Hypothetical 1st and 2nd draft picks Nalissa Smith (Baylor) – Winner of the 2021 Wade Prize – and Ryan Howard (Kentucky) is among the finalists.

Of the four Power 5 conferences that named their players for this year, three of these athletes made the list: Clark (Big Ten), Jones (Pac 12) and Boston (SEC). Best player in ACC Elizabeth Keatley (Virginia Tech) is not named a woody final candidate.

cursor charisma of LSU is a finalist after not being in the top 20 late in the season.

Big Bakers, winner of the 2021 Wooden Award, has not been placed as a nominee in the last few iterations of the award’s watchlist. The Bakers missed 19 games for the Yukon while recovering from a tibial plateau fracture and a meniscus tear in her left knee before returning for the Huskies’ penultimate regular season game.

The Wooden All-America team of 10 will be announced after the Elite Eight. The top vote-getters will be invited to the Wooden Award Show in Los Angeles in April.