The Oregon guard sweeps the national player of the year awards.
There are five major national player of the year awards in women’s basketball. Sabrina Ionescu finished sweeping those awards on Monday while also being named the nation’s best point guard. The honors wrapped up when the Oregon Duck star was named the winner of the John R. Wooden Award for the second straight year.
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“It’s historical,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said in the school’s press release. “To see what she’s doing. I don’t know how often this has been done where one player sweeps everything. And those that have done it would be considered the icons of the game, and I think you can include her there.”
Backing up Graves’ words, she became just the sixth woman to win the Wooden Award more than once and the fifth to win it two straight years. The last player to accomplish both was Connecticut’s Breanna Stewart in 2016.
The national accolades began back on March 23 when Ionescu was unanimously voted the AP Player of the Year. Once again, she joined Stewart by becoming just the second unanimous selection in the history of that award.
Two days later, the NCAA leader in triple doubles was given the USBWA’s Ann Meyers Drysdale award for the nation’s top player. Then, the first week of April, she was named the winner of both the WBCA’s Wade Trophy and the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Naismith Award.
In addition to the overall player awards, Ionescu was also named the winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award by the Naismith Hall of Fame and the WBCA. The award honors the best point guard in NCAA basketball.
Those awards joined the Senior CLASS Award, five different All-America teams, Pac-12 Player of the Year and All-Pac-12 honors from both the coaches and the media, and the Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player award this season.
Next up, the WNBA draft on April 17 when Ionescu is widely expected to be called first by the New York Liberty.
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