IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior guard Lucy Olsen and junior forward Hannah Stuelke were named to the 2024-25 John R. Wooden Award Top 50 Preseason Watch List on Thursday.

Caitlin Clark is proud of her junior’s impeccable performance.

Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.

Olsen competed the previous three seasons at Villanova University. The Collegeville, Pennsylvania, native was third in the country in scoring (23.3 ppg) last season behind Caitlin Clark and USC’s JuJu Watkins. She scored over 20 points in 25 games this season, including surpassing 30 points in 10 of those games, with a career-high of 40 points against Temple.

Additionally, she averaged 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. She was named Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press. Olsen also highlighted the All-Big East by earning first team accolades and the Most Improved Player Award last season.

Lucy Olsen (left) and Kylie Feuerbach slap hands in Wednesday’s game against Northern Illinois. Photo courtesy of Hawkeyesports.com.

Stuelke returns to the Hawkeyes after a pair of successful campaigns. During her sophomore season, she earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and media. Stuelke averaged 14.0 ppg while shooting better than 62-percent from the field. As freshman, she earned Sixth Player of the Year honors.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2025 John R. Wooden Award® Women’s Player of the Year. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award® midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot.

The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award®. Wooden Award™ voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during the tournament’s early round games.

The Wooden Award All-American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2025 John R. Wooden Award®, presented by Principal, will be presented at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 11, 2025.

ABOUT THE JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD®

Created in 1976, the Los Angeles Athletic Club John R. Wooden Award Program™ hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award® Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All-America™ Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award® Legend of Coaching recipient.

Wooden Award® All Americans have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award® as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award® Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA.

Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Breanna Stewart (’15; ’16), and the last two year’s (’23 &’24) recipients, Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Zach Edey of Purdue.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award® has made charitable gifts of nearly one million dollars in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award® partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award® Special Olympics basketball day. The event brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award® All Americans and coaches in attendance.