MOSCOW, Idaho - For the second-consecutive season, Emily Faurholt, a post for the University of Idaho women?™s basketball team, was named as a preseason Top 30 candidate for the John R. Wooden award following a national poll conducted by the National Advisory Board. This Women?™s Wooden Award Preseason All-American Team is composed of 30 student-athletes who, based on last year?™s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball?™s most coveted trophy.
Faurholt, a senior from Kennewick, Wash., is one of Idaho?™s top returning players after averaging 23.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game during the 2004-05 season. Her points-per-game average ranked second in the nation and helped her to her second-consecutive First Team All-Big West selection. Faurholt made history as the ninth-quickest player to reach 1,000-career points, reaching the plateau in just her 43rd Division I game, and ended the season on nine all-time records lists at UI.
Three of last season?™s Final Four teams boast at least one representative on the preseason team and nine NCAA conferences are represented in the selection. Faurholt stands as the lone player nominated from the Western Athletic Conference and as one of two non-Pacific-10 Conference representatives west of the Rocky Mountains.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation?™s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his/her university that he/she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan (?™84), Larry Bird (?™79), Tim Duncan (?™97) and last year?™s recipient, Seimone Augustus (?™05).
In mid-January, the Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 20 List, followed in March by the official voting ballot, consisting of the top 10-15 players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The 2005 Award ceremony, which will include the presentation of the Men?™s and Women?™s Wooden Award, the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 8, 2006 and will be broadcast live on a national CBS telecast.
The top five male and female finalists will receive a contribution from the John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund in their name to their university?™s general scholarship fund. The Wooden Award scholarship fund was established in 2002 by Applied Materials and corporate partners through the California Community Foundation (CCF) to honor Coach Wooden?™s dedication as an educator and mentor. The Scholarship Fund distributed $10,000 last year to each university represented by a men?™s and women?™s Wooden Award All-American Team finalist (for a total of $100,000). Additional donations to Applied Materials?™ John R. Wooden Award Scholarship Fund can be made by contacting the scholarship fund through the CCF (
www.calfund.org).