STANFORD, Calif. – Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen have made the Women's National Ballot for the 2024 John R. Wooden Award the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Saturday.
Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding college basketball player in the United States.
Stanford is one of three schools with multiple players among the final 15, along with LSU and Virginia Tech.
The Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year and a Wooden Award All-American last season, Brink is first nationally in blocks per game (3.43) and third in rebounds per game (12.0). She is the only player in the country averaging 17.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, numbers that have only been put up for an entire season six times by a major conference player since 1999-2000, most recently Oklahoma State's Natasha Mack in 2020-21. Brink is in the midst of one of the most efficient seasons by a major conference player in available records dating back to 2002-03 and currently leads the nation with a PER of 47.08.
The nation's leading active shot blocker, in Friday's Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal Brink became the 17th Division I player with 400 career rejections. She had a career-high nine assists to go with 16 points and 12 rebounds in Friday's win over Oregon State and currently has 103 blocks and 87 assists this season. Only one other player has had 100 blocks and 100 assists in a single season in available records since 1999-2000. Breanna Stewart did it three times for UConn in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Third in the league in scoring (18.6) and rebounding (11.1), Iriafen is one of three players in the country averaging 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game (Elizabeth Kitley - Virginia Tech; Angel Reese - LSU).
The Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year has taken a massive leap as a junior and after averaging 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds as a sophomore, she's putting up 18.6 points (+11.9) and 11.1 rebounds (+7.3) per game this season. Currently, she has the fourth-best year-over-year improvement in the country in scoring average and is first in rebounding average.
Among a number of memorable performances this season, Iriafen scored a career-high 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 65-56 victory over Oregon State on Jan. 21, Tara VanDerveer's record 1,203rd, to become the first Cardinal since Chiney Ogwumike in 2014 with at least 35 points and 10 boards in a game. From Jan. 12-26, she posted a double-double in five consecutive games, the longest streak for the Cardinal since Ogwumike did it in six in a row in 2013-14.
There are six major conference players in the country averaging 17.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, and Stanford is the only school with two. Since 1999-2000, no school has had two players average 17.0 points and 11.0 rebounds for an entire season (minimum 18 games).
Brink (361) and Iriafen (355) are currently seventh and eighth in single-season rebounds in Stanford history. Only Chiney Ogwumike has ever pulled down 400 in a season (466 – 2012-13; 446 – 2013-14).
Voting will take place from March 19th to March 26th, and voters take into consideration a player's entire season of play, as well as the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The finalists for the 2024 Wooden Award will be announced on April 2.
