The Lisa Leslie Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball center in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after Hall of Famer Lisa 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.
The Lisa Leslie Award was first presented in 2018, when WBCA and the Naismith Hall, in collaboration with ESPN, incorporated the previously existing Nancy 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 the coronavirus 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: Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award Katrina McClain Power Forward Award Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award
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.
Key *Awarded, in addition, a national Player of the Year award: the Naismith College Player of the Year, Wade Trophy or the John R. Wooden AwardPlayer (X)Denotes the number of times the player has received the Lisa Leslie Award
Winners
SeasonPlayerSchoolClassRef. 2017–18 * South Carolina 2018–19 * Iowa 2019–20 South Carolina 2020–21 (2) South Carolina 2021–22 * (3) South Carolina Basketball Hall of Fame & Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Announce Winners of Women’s Naismith Starting Five Awards. (2022) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame (hoophall.com), April 3, 2022 2022–23 (4) South Carolina NAISMITH BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME REVEALS WINNERS OF MEN AND WOMEN’S NAISMITH STARTING FIVE AWARDS ON ESPN’S COLLEGE GAMEDAY. (2023) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame (hoophall.com), April 4, 2023Cash, Meredith - Lisa Leslie says South Carolina star Aliyah Boston is so dominant, she's made it 'tough for anybody else' to break through at center. Business Insider March 20, 2023 Quote from Lisa Leslie: "Well, I'm not at liberty to say [who won the 2022-23 honor], but I can tell you that someone has really stamped their name in this space for quite some time. Obviously the elephant in the room is Aliyah Boston — I mean, her numbers speak for themselves, and it's been tough for anybody else to really break in that category, in that position." 2023–24 Stanford 2024–25 UCLA NAISMITH BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME REVEALS WINNERS OF MEN AND WOMEN’S NAISMITH STARTING FIVE AWARDS ON ESPN’S COLLEGE GAMEDAY. (2025) The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame (hoophall.com), April 5, 2025 2025–26 (2) UCLA
Winners by school School Awards Individualrecipients Years South Carolina 5 2 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 UCLA 2 1 2025, 2026 Iowa 1 1 2019 Stanford 1 1 2024
See also Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award – the counterpart to the Leslie Award; given to the best men's NCAA center
References
External links