Kelsey Plum Named AP Women's College Basketball Player Of The Year
March 30, 2017 | Women's Basketball
DALLAS -- Kelsey Plum of the University of Washington women's basketball team has been named The Associated Press' women's college basketball Player of the Year, becoming the first player in program and Pac-12 Conference history to win the award.
The Poway, Calif. native received 30 of the 33 votes from the national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. A'ja Wilson of South Carolina, Gabby Williams and Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn each received a vote. The voting was done before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Plum, who was a unanimous pick on the AP All-America first team, became the NCAA's all-time career leading scorer this season, ending her illustrious career with 3,527 points.
"If you had told me that all this stuff would have happened to me personally, I would have laughed at you," Plum said. "Not the sense that I didn't believe in myself or anything like that. But it's not something that you think about. I'm the all-time leading scorer in college basketball and it's something I never dreamed about."
The espnW and Pac-12 Player of the Year scored 1,109 points this season which broke the single-season scoring record. Plum became just the third player in NCAA history to reach 1,000 points in a single season.
In the final game of her collegiate career in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Plum also broke the 33-year-old NCAA career free throw record, ending her career with 912.
Plum shot 52.9 percent from the field, 42.8 from three and 88.7 at the foul line while leading Washington to a historic season in 2016-17, finishing with a program-record 29 wins.
She is also a finalist for the 2017 Lieberman Award, Naismith Trophy, Staley Award, Wade Trophy and Wooden Award.
"One of the greatest parts of her legacy is that there are a lot of kids running around the country who think they can be the next Kelsey Plum," head coach Mike Neighbors said. "You don't have to have a physical attribute that screams you're a basketball player, you just need a great work ethic and a hard drive to succeed."
The Poway, Calif. native received 30 of the 33 votes from the national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. A'ja Wilson of South Carolina, Gabby Williams and Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn each received a vote. The voting was done before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Plum, who was a unanimous pick on the AP All-America first team, became the NCAA's all-time career leading scorer this season, ending her illustrious career with 3,527 points.
"If you had told me that all this stuff would have happened to me personally, I would have laughed at you," Plum said. "Not the sense that I didn't believe in myself or anything like that. But it's not something that you think about. I'm the all-time leading scorer in college basketball and it's something I never dreamed about."
The espnW and Pac-12 Player of the Year scored 1,109 points this season which broke the single-season scoring record. Plum became just the third player in NCAA history to reach 1,000 points in a single season.
In the final game of her collegiate career in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Plum also broke the 33-year-old NCAA career free throw record, ending her career with 912.
Plum shot 52.9 percent from the field, 42.8 from three and 88.7 at the foul line while leading Washington to a historic season in 2016-17, finishing with a program-record 29 wins.
She is also a finalist for the 2017 Lieberman Award, Naismith Trophy, Staley Award, Wade Trophy and Wooden Award.
"One of the greatest parts of her legacy is that there are a lot of kids running around the country who think they can be the next Kelsey Plum," head coach Mike Neighbors said. "You don't have to have a physical attribute that screams you're a basketball player, you just need a great work ethic and a hard drive to succeed."
Players Mentioned
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