Charles, Moore Named Wooden All-Americans

2009 winner Moore of UConn leads the list of team members, all of whom are invited to the April 9 Gala Presentation in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (March 31, 2010) – The John R. Wooden Award Women’s All-American team was announced today (see below) with all five team members invited to Los Angeles for the April 9 announcement of the 2010 John R. Wooden Award winner as the college basketball player of the year. The presentation of the John R. Wooden Award Trophy to the Player of the Year will be made as part of the Wooden Award Gala at 6:30 p.m. that day.

With voting finishing just this past Monday, voters were asked to take into account performance during the regular season and postseason through the Sweet Sixteen, as well as a player’s character and academic performance, essential components of an outstanding player. Balloting was conducted over the past three weeks by hundreds of national media members. Voters selected five players from the 22 athletes listed on the ballot, and ranked them from 1 to 5. All players on the ballot were certified by their schools as maintaining a 2.0 GPA at their current school.

“The talent on the 2010 Wooden Award All American Team is incredible this year, and even making the ballot was tough this season,” said Steve Hathaway, president of The Los Angeles Athletic Club, speaking on behalf of hospitalized Wooden Award Chairman and Founder Richard “Duke” Llewellyn.

Connecticut’s Maya Moore is now a three-time John R. Wooden All-American, and won the John R. Wooden Award in 2009 as a sophomore. She and teammate Tina Charles, also a John R. Wooden All-American in 2010, have led their team to an undefeated season. Charles and Moore boast identical 18.3 ppg scoring averages. Charles adds 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 63.5% from the field, while Moore contributes 8.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Both players average below 30 minutes per game.

Four Wooden All-Americans will play in the Final Four: Moore, Charles and Stanford’s duo of Jayne Appel and Nnemkadi Ogwumike. Nebraska’s Kelsey Griffin rounds out the team. Ogwumike, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, averages 18.2 points and 9.6 rebounds. The senior Appel adds 13.6 points and 8.7 rebounds in directing Stanford’s tough post game. Griffin (20.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg) the 2010 Big 12 Player of the Year and a three-time Academic All-Big 12 pick, led the Cornhuskers to their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The 34th John R. Wooden Award Presentation Gala will be held at 6:30 p.m. on April 9 at The Los Angeles Athletic Club, 431 W. Seventh Street in Los Angeles.  In addition to honoring the John R. Wooden Award All-American teams, the “Legends of Coaching” Award will be presented to Florida’s Billy Donovan, who made his 10th appearance as a coach in the NCAA Tournament this year. The final vote tally will be released that night as well. Tickets are $105 and may be obtained by calling The Los Angeles Athletic Club at (213) 630-5231; the event always sells out. For up to date information on all of the Wooden Award candidates, please go to www.woodenaward.com.

The winners will receive a contribution from The Los Angeles Athletic Club for their university’s general scholarship fund.  The Men’s John R. Wooden All-American Team will be announced tomorrow, Thursday, April 1.

Women’s 2010 John R. Wooden Award All American Team®

$ 2009 John R. Wooden Award winner

# 2008 John R. Wooden All American Team