CLEVELAND — Caitlin Clark has won the Naismith Player of the Year Award for the second year in a row.
Clark, the senior Iowa guard whose team is headed to the Final Four to play UConn, was picked over UConn's Paige Bueckers, USC's JuJu Watkins and Stanford's Cameron Brink.
Clark is the first player to win the award in consecutive seasons since Breanna Stewart did so at UConn from 2014-2016.
"I'm just so thankful and grateful and I'll see you all Friday night," Clark said while accepting the Naismith Trophy.
Lisa Bluder, the head coach of the Hawkeye women's basketball team, was nominated for Coach of the Year. That award went to Dawn Staley of South Carolina.
The winners of the women's awards, which also included Defensive Player of the Year, were announced Wednesday at a press conference at Key Bank Club in Cleveland Browns Stadium. The event coincides with the location of the Women's Final Four.
On the men's side, Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger is nominated for Coach of the Year. Those awards will be presented on Sunday, April 7.
Player of the Year finalists (winner bolded)
- Cameron Brink (Stanford University)
- Paige Bueckers (University of Connecticut)
- Caitlin Clark (University of Iowa)
- JuJu Watkins (University of Southern California)
Coach of the Year finalists (winner bolded)
- Lisa Bluder (University of Iowa)
- Lindsay Gottlieb (University of Southern California)
- Dawn Staley (University of South Carolina)
- Tara VanDerVeer (Stanford University)
Defensive Player of the Year finalists (winner bolded)
- Cameron Brink (Stanford University)
- Kamilla Cardoso (University of South Carolina)
- Hannah Hidalgo (University of Notre Dame)
- Celeste Taylor (Ohio State University)