| Lisa Leslie Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | The best women's college basketball center in the United States |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame & Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) |
| First award | 2018 |
| Currently held by | Cameron Brink,Stanford |
| Website | Lisa Leslie Award |
TheLisa Leslie Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketballcenter in theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division I competition. It is named after Hall of FamerLisa Leslie, an eight-time All Star and two-time champion of the WNBA in her 12 years career with the LA Sparks. In 2002, Leslie became the first player to dunk in a WNBA game, en route to a second championship for the Sparks. Leslie retired as the WNBA all-time leading scorer & rebounder and is a four-time Olympic gold medalist.[1]
The Lisa Leslie Award was first presented in 2018, when WBCA and the Naismith Hall, in collaboration with ESPN, incorporated the previously existingNancy Lieberman Award, presented to the top NCAA women's point guard, into a new set of awards known as the "Naismith Starting Five", that are presented at the WBCA convention (except in 2020, when the convention was not held due to thecoronavirus pandemic) to players at each of the five traditional basketball positions. These awards parallel a previously existing set of men's basketball positional awards also presented by the Hall. In addition to the Lieberman Award, first presented in 2000, the other three new awards are:[2]
Winner for each of the Starting Five awards is determined by a selection committee consisting of Hall of Famers, WBCA coaching members, and media, and headed by the award's namesake. Fan voting through the Hall's website is also incorporated into the selection process.
| * | Awarded, in addition, a national Player of the Year award: theNaismith College Player of the Year,Wade Trophy or theJohn R. Wooden Award |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has received the Lisa Leslie Award |
| Season | Player | School | Class | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | A'ja Wilson* | South Carolina | Senior | |
| 2018–19 | Megan Gustafson* | Iowa | Senior | [3] |
| 2019–20 | Aliyah Boston | South Carolina | Freshman | [4] |
| 2020–21 | Aliyah Boston (2) | South Carolina | Sophomore | [5] |
| 2021–22 | Aliyah Boston* (3) | South Carolina | Junior | |
| 2022–23 | Aliyah Boston (4) | South Carolina | Senior | |
| 2023–24 | Cameron Brink | Stanford | Senior | [6] |
| 2024-25 |
| School | Winners | Years |
|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | 5 | 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
| Iowa | 1 | 2019 |
| Stanford | 1 | 2024 |