Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year
| Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year | |
|---|---|
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| Awarded for | the most outstanding basketball player in the Big Ten Conference |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Big Ten head coaches (1983–present) Big Ten media (1996–present) |
| First awarded | 1983 |
| Currently held by | Rachel Banham, Minnesota |
The Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year is a basketball award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the Big Ten's first full season of women's basketball in 1982–83 (although the conference held its first postseason tournament the previous season). The league's head coaches have presented the award since 1983; media members who cover Big Ten women's basketball began presenting their own version of the award in 1996.[n 1]
Seven players have won the award multiple times. Five players have won twice: Anucha Browne of Northwestern (1984, 1985), Tracey Hall of Ohio State (1986, 1987), Katie Douglas of Purdue (2000, 2001), Kelly Mazzante of Penn State (2003, 2004), and Maggie Lucas of Penn State (2013, 2014). Jessica Davenport of Ohio State is the only player to have been the unanimous winner of three awards (2005–2007). Another Ohio State player, Jantel Lavender, is the only four-time winner (2008–2011), although only the 2009 and 2010 awards were unanimous (she won the coaches' award in 2008 and the media award in 2011).
Two players have won a major national player of the year award in the same season in which they won the Big Ten award. Carol Ann Shudlick of Minnesota won the Wade Trophy along with the Big Ten award in 1994, and Stephanie White of Purdue won the same two awards in 1999.
The coaches and media have split their honors five times in all, with the most recent being 2015, when Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State won the coaches' award and Amanda Zahui B. of Minnesota won the media award.
Ohio State has the record for the most awards with 13, and the most individuals who have won the award, with six. Of current Big Ten Conference members, four schools have never had a winner: long-established members Indiana and Michigan, and the two schools that joined the conference in 2014, Maryland and Rutgers.
Key
| † | Co-Players of the Year |
| C | Coaches selection |
| M | Media selection |
| * | Awarded a national Player of the Year award: Wade Trophy (1977–78 to present) Naismith College Player of the Year (1982–83 to present) John R. Wooden Award (2003–04 to present) |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been named the Big Ten Player of the Year at that point |
Winners
Winners by school
| School (year joined) | Winners | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Ohio State (1912) | 13 | 1986, 1987, 1989. 1996, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008†, 2009, 2010, 2011†, 2012, 2015† |
| Minnesota (1896) | 5 | 1983, 1994, 2002, 2015†, 2016 |
| Penn State (1993) | 5 | 2000†, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014† |
| Purdue (1896) | 5 | 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000†, 2001 |
| Iowa (1900) | 3 | 1988, 1993, 1998 |
| Northwestern (1896) | 2 | 1984, 1985 |
| Illinois (1896) | 1 | 1997 |
| Maryland (1953) | 1 | 2011† |
| Nebraska (2011) | 1 | 2014† |
| Wisconsin (1896) | 1 | 2008† |
| Indiana (1900) | 0 | — |
| Maryland (2014) | 0 | — |
| Michigan (1896) | 0 | — |
| Rutgers (2014) | 0 | — |
See also
- Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball, another award formerly presented to the Big Ten men's and women's players of the year
Footnotes
- ↑ Big Ten records do not directly state when media began presenting a Player of the Year award. However, the Big Ten's 2014–15 women's basketball media guide, the primary reference for this article, explicitly states that media members began selecting an all-conference team in the 1995–96 season (see p. 76). It can therefore be safely assumed that media began choosing their own Player of the Year at that time.
References
- General
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- Players of the Year through 2013–14 season: p. 77
- National award winners: p. 78
- Positions for winners prior to 2014–15, unless noted otherwise: Most Valuable Players (by school), pp. 74–75
- Specific
- ↑ Big Ten WNBA Draft Selections, 2014–15 Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Media Guide, p. 85.
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