Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano named to John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50
Iowa’s terrific twosome picked up more accolades. The No. 6 Iowa Hawkeyes‘ Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano were named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List.
Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team and Most Outstanding Player Award.
It’s par for the course for these two. The John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List recognition is the ninth preseason honor for Clark and the fourth for Czinano.
Clark has been named Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, All-Big Ten by the coaches and media, to the Nancy Lieberman Preseason Watch List, preseason AP All-American, to the Naismith Watch List, and as The Athletic Player of the Year.
Meanwhile, Czinano was named as a AP All-American, to the Lisa Leslie Watch List and first team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media. Czinano was also just selected as the Big Ten Player of the Week after scoring 36 points against Drake.
.@CaitlinClark22 🤝 @MCzinano
Wooden Award Watch List #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/YDabUM3lsu— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) November 15, 2022
Through Iowa’s 3-0 start to the season, Clark is averaging 24.7 points, 7.3 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game. She’s scored 20 or more points in all three games, is shooting 36% from 3-point range and is top five in the country in assists, free throw attempts, and points. Against Evansville, she registered her 27th career double-double.
Czinano is averaging 23 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. The 6-foot-3 native of Watertown, Minn., is converting a silly 69.2% of her field goal attempts thus far in the 2022-23 season.
“To come here on the road and win, I am extremely happy with that. Allison is doing a great job with this program, and I am so happy for her. Katie Dinnebier played extremely well today. We were happy with our 21 assists on 11 turnovers. I was happy that we came out and got 21 offensive rebounds in the second half. Gabbie had some clutch three-pointers for us and played great defense. For us, this was a special game because of Lisa Brinkmeyer, and just wanted to honor her. I think both teams played so well in honoring Lisa today,” Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said after her team’s overtime win at Drake.
Iowa returns to play when the Hawkeyes travel to Kansas State on Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT in Manhattan. The game will broadcast on ESPN+ and on the Hawkeye Radio Network.
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Twitter reacts to Monika Czinano's monster day, No. 6 Iowa surviving Drake in OT, 92-86
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