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 Award |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has received the Cheryl Miller Award |
| Cheryl Miller Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | the best women's college basketball small forward in the United States |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame & Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) |
| First awarded | 2018 |
| Currently held by | Madison Booker, Texas |
| Website | Cheryl Miller Award |
The Cheryl Miller Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball small forward in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller. While at Riverside (CA) Polytechnic High School, Miller set a single game scoring record of 105 points in a game in 1982. She was a four-time All-America, a three-time Naismith Player of the Year and a Wade Trophy winner while accumulating 3,018 career points at USC from 1982 to 1986. Miller is a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and was named the best college basketball player, both male and female, in 1986 by Sports Illustrated. [1]
The Cheryl Miller Award was first presented in 2018, when WBCA and the Naismith Hall, in collaboration with ESPN, incorporated the Nancy Lieberman Award, presented since 2000 to the top NCAA women's point guard, into a new set of awards known as the "Naismith Starting Five". All five awards are presented at the WBCA convention (except in 2020, when the convention was not held due to the COVID-19 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, the other three new awards are:
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: the Naismith College Player of the Year, Wade Trophy or the John R. Wooden Award |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has received the Cheryl Miller Award |
| Season | Player | School | Class | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Gabby Williams | UConn | Senior | |
| 2018–19 | Bridget Carleton | Iowa State | Senior | [2] |
| 2019–20 | Satou Sabally | Oregon | Junior | [2] |
| 2020–21 | Ashley Joens | Iowa State | Junior | [3] |
| 2021–22 | Ashley Joens (2) | Iowa State | Senior | [4] |
| 2022–23 | Ashley Joens (3) | Iowa State | Graduate | [5] |
| 2023–24 | Madison Booker | Texas | Freshman |
| School | Winners | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Iowa State | 4 | 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
| Oregon | 1 | 2020 |
| Texas | 1 | 2024 |
| UConn | 1 | 2018 |
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician James Naismith, who invented the sport in Springfield, the Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959, before opening its first facility on February 17, 1968.
Chamique Shaunta Holdsclaw is an American former professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) most recently under a contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars. She announced her retirement from the Los Angeles Sparks on June 11, 2007, though she eventually came out of retirement to play with the Atlanta Dream for the 2009 WNBA Season. Holdsclaw was inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Cheryl D. Miller is an American former basketball player. She was formerly a sideline reporter for NBA games on TNT Sports and also works for NBA TV as a reporter and analyst, having worked previously as a sportscaster for ABC Sports, TBS Sports, and ESPN. She was also head coach and general manager of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
The Nancy Lieberman Award, named for Basketball Hall of Fame legend Nancy Lieberman, was given annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit in the Award's first 14 years to the nation's top collegiate point guard in women's Division I basketball. Sue Bird won the inaugural award in 2000, making her the first of only three players to have won three Lieberman Awards. Paige Bueckers is the first freshman to win the award in 2021, and only three players have won as sophomores —Bird in 2000; the other three-time winners, Sabrina Ionescu, in 2018; and Caitlin Clark in 2022.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year award is presented annually to the best women's college basketball players in NCAA Division II and Division III as voted by the WBCA membership. From 1983 to 2000, the award was also given to the best player in Division I. The award was first presented in 1983. The award was presented by Champion from 1983 to 1994, by Rawlings from 1995 to 2002, and by State Farm from 2003 to 2015.
The 2018–19 Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play started in January 2019 and concluded in March with the 2019 ACC women's basketball tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC.
The Katrina McClain Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball power forward in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after Hall of Famer Katrina McClain-Pittman, a two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year with two Olympic gold, one Olympic bronze, and three FIBA World Championships medals. McClain was the WBCA National Player of the Year in her senior season at Georgia.
The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball shooting guard in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale, the first high school player to make the United States national team and the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA.
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 2020–21 Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball season began with practices in November 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play started in December 2020 and will conclude in March with the 2021 ACC women's basketball tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC.
The 2020–21 UConn Huskies women's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut (UConn) during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Huskies, led by Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma in his 36th season at UConn, split their home games between Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and the XL Center and were members of the Big East Conference, which they joined for women's basketball that season. UConn was previously a member of the original Big East Conference from 1979 through 2013, and one of the original women's basketball teams of that league in 1982.
The 2021–22 Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2021, followed by the start of the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play started in November 2021 and will conclude on February 27, 2022. After the regular season, the 2022 ACC women's basketball tournament will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC for the 22nd time in 23 years.
The 2021–22 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October followed by the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season which started on November 9. Conference play began on December 31. This is the tenth season under the Pac–12 Conference name and the 36th since the conference first sponsored women's sports, including basketball, in the 1986–87 school year.
The 2021–22 Summit League women's basketball season is scheduled to begin with practices in October 2021 followed by the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2021. The conference is scheduled to begin in December 2021. This was the fifteenth season under the Summit League name and the 40th since the conference was established under its current charter as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982.
The 2022–23 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball season will begin with practices in October followed by the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season which will start in November 2022. Conference play will begin in December 2022. This will be the eleventh season under the Pac–12 Conference name and the 37th since the conference first sponsored women's sports, including basketball, in the 1986–87 school year.
The 2022–23 Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team represented Stanford University during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinal were led by thirty-seventh year head coach Tara VanDerveer, and they played their home games at Maples Pavilion as members of the Pac-12 Conference.
The 2022–23 Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2022, followed by the start of the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play started in November 2022 and concluded on February 26, 2023. After the regular season, the 2023 ACC women's basketball tournament was held at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC for the 23rd time in 24 years.
The 2022–23 Summit League women's basketball season began non-conference play on November 7, 2022. The conference schedule began on December 19, 2022. This will be the sixteenth season under the Summit League name and the 41st since the conference was established under its current charter as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982.
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