Iowa’s Caitlin Clark Wins Wade Trophy, Named Associated Press Player of the Year
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Iowa senior guard Caitlin Clark is the recipient of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) 2024 Wade Trophy for the second year in a row and has been named 2024 Associated Press (AP) Women's College Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight season, the organizations announced Thursday.
Clark is the first Iowa student-athlete to take home the Wade Trophy, the oldest and most prestigious national player of the year honor in women's basketball. She is the first Big Ten player to win the award since Purdue's Stephanie White in 1999 and the only to win it multiple times. Clark, who also won the 2023 Wade Trophy, joins Nancy Lieberman, Old Dominion (1979, 1980); Seimone Augustus (2005, 2006), LSU; Brittney Griner (2012, 2013), Baylor; Breanna Stewart (2015, 2016), Connecticut; and Sabrina Ionescu (2019, 2020), Oregon, as two-time winners of the award. Maya Moore (2009, 2010, 2011), Connecticut, is the only player to win the Wade Trophy three times.
Clark earned 34 votes from the 35-member national media panel, which votes on the AP Top 25 each week, to secure player of the year honors. The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer in college basketball history, Clark is the second Big Ten Conference student-athlete and Hawkeye, joining Megan Gustafson (2019), to receive the honor since the award was established in 1995. She is the only player in Big Ten history to earn the distinction in back-to-back seasons. The three-time Big Ten Player of the Year is also a finalist for every other major national player of the year award this season, many of which will be presented within the next week.
Clark owns 3,800+ career points and recently became the first Division I player to record 1,000+ points in back-to-back seasons. A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, she leads the nation in assists (9.0 apg) and scoring (32.0 ppg), the first player to finish first in both categories in consecutive seasons. She is also the only player in NCAA DI men’s or women’s basketball history to lead her conference in scoring and assists in four consecutive seasons.
Iowa is set for its second straight NCAA Women’s Final Four and Clark heads into the weekend with an NCAA single-season scoring record of 1,183 points. The Hawkeyes (33-4) will face UConn in the second NCAA national semifinal at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday live on ESPN from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
2023-24 Postseason Awards
Wade Trophy Recipient
AP Player of the Year
Naismith Player of the Year
ESPN National Player of the Year
The Athletic National Player of the Year
Sporting News National Player of the Year
AP First Team All-America
USBWA First Team All-America
The Athletic First Team All-America
Wooden Award All-America
ESPN All-America
Sporting News First Team All-America
CSC Academic All-District
Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Consensus Big Ten Player of the Year
Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten