University of Minnesota senior guard Rachel Banham today was named to the John R. Wooden Award Women’s Preseason Top 30, a list made up of 30 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for college basketball’s player of the year award. It marks the second-straight year that Banham has been named to the prestigious list, which is chosen by a preseason poll of national women’s college basketball media members.

The senior was ranked by espnW as the No. 5 player in the country and earned a spot on its Preseason All-America second team, while also being tabbed as the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year heading into the 2014-15 season.

Banham has paced the Gophers to a 3-0 record early in her senior campaign and is averaging 19.7 points and 7.3 assists per game. She became just the fourth Gopher in program history to score 2,000 career points in Minnesota’s season-opener and, with 2,052 total points, ranks third on Minnesota’s all-time scoring register and is on pace to break Lindsay Whalen’s career scoring record of 2,285 points.

As a junior, Banham joined Janel McCarville as the only two Gophers in program history to earn a spot on the Wooden Award Final Ballot, which is made up of the top-15 women’s basketball players in the nation. She was also named to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Top-30, the Wade Award Watch List and the Dawn Staley Award Watch List. She earned a spot on the AP and WBCA All-America honorable mention teams and was a unanimous selection to both the coaches and media All-Big Ten First Teams.

Banham was the first Gopher since Carol Ann Shudlick in 1993 to lead the Big Ten in scoring and posted the highest Big Ten scoring average since 2002. Her 750 points were a program single-season record, as were her 93 three-point field goals in 2013-14.

Banham and the Gophers are set to host Southern University Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

 

John R. Wooden Award Women's Preseason Top 30

 NameSchoolConferenceHt.Yr.Pos.
Jillian AlleyneOregonPac-126-3Jr.F
Rachel BanhamMinnesotaBig Ten5-9Sr.G
Brittany BoydCaliforniaPac-125-9Sr.G
Crystal BradfordCentral MichiganMAC6-0Sr.G
Lexie BrownMarylandBig Ten5-9So.G
Nina DavisBaylorBig 125-11So.F
Kaela DavisGeorgia TechACC6-2So.G
Nneka EnemkpaliTexasBig 126-1Sr.F
Bashaara GravesTennesseeSEC6-2Jr.F
Reshanda GrayCaliforniaPac-126-3Sr.F
Allisha GrayNorth CarolinaACC6-0So.G
Dearica HambyWake ForestACC6-3Sr.F
Sara HammondLouisvilleACC6-2Sr.F
Isabelle HarrisonTennesseeSEC6-3Sr.C
Bria HolmesWest VirginiaBig 126-1Jr.G
Brittany HrynkoDePaulBig East5-8Sr.G
Moriah JeffersonUConnThe American5-7Jr.G
Samantha LogicIowaBig Ten5-9Sr.G
Jewell LoydNotre DameACC5-10Jr.G
Tiffany MitchellSouth CarolinaSEC5-9Jr.G
Kaleena Mosqueda-LewisUConnThe American5-11Sr.F
Amber OrrangeStanfordPac-125-7Sr.G
Kelsey PlumWashingtonPac-125-8So.G
Aerial PowersMichigan StateBig Ten6-0So.F
Breanna Stewart*UConnThe American6-4Jr.F
Rachel TheriotNebraskaBig Ten6-0Jr.G
Courtney WalkerTexas A&MSEC5-8Jr.G
Aleighsa WelchSouth CarolinaSEC6-0Sr.F
Elizabeth WilliamsDukeACC6-3Sr.C/F
Courtney WilliamsUSFThe American5-8Jr.G

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