TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Freshman women’s basketball guard Ta’Niya Latson has been selected to the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® Late Season Top 20 Watch List, announced on Monday night on ESPN2 by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Chosen by a poll of national college basketball experts based on their performances during the 2022-23 season thus far, the list comprises of 20 student-athletes who are front-runners for the sport’s most prestigious honor.
👀 @NiyaLatson has been named to the Wooden Award Late Season Top 2️⃣0️⃣ Watchlist! #NoleFAM pic.twitter.com/l444ALlBzS
— FSU Women’s Basketball (@fsuwbb) January 30, 2023
Latson is enjoying one of the most outstanding freshman seasons in recent memory in women’s college basketball. She continues to lead the ACC in scoring at 22.7 points per game while averaging 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals per game and shooting 46.7 percent (183-of-392) from the floor.
Latson leads the nation with 148 free throws made, which puts her 42 makes shy of breaking the FSU single-season record held by Carla Williams (189) in 1995-96.
Of the 10 30-point performances in the ACC this season, Latson owns six of them, which marks a new single-season school record previously held by FSU legend Natasha Howard. She has two 34-point games vs. Texas Southern and Kent State, a pair of 32-point performances vs. Georgia Tech and Florida and two 31-point games against NC State and Clemson.
All 20 players on the Wooden Watch™ were named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 earlier this month. Three schools have multiple players on the list: Iowa (Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano), South Carolina (Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke) and Stanford (Cameron Brink and Haley Jones).
The ACC leads all conferences with five selections on the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20, followed by the Big Ten and Pac-12 with four each, the Big East and SEC with three selections each , and the Big 12 with one selection.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2023 John R. Wooden Award Women’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the late season list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ 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.
Nearly 1,000 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 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 2023 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s following the NCAA Tournament in April.
| Name | School | Conference | Height | Class | Position |
| Aliyah Boston** | South Carolina | SEC | 6-5 | Sr. | F |
| Cameron Brink | Stanford | Pac-12 | 6-4 | Jr. | F |
| Caitlin Clark* | Iowa | Big Ten | 6-0 | Jr. | G |
| Zia Cooke | South Carolina | SEC | 5-9 | Sr. | G |
| Monika Czinano | Iowa | Big Ten | 6-3 | Sr. | F/C |
| Aaliyah Edwards | Connecticut | Big East | 6-3 | Jr. | F |
| Mackenzie Holmes | Indiana | Big Ten | 6-3 | Sr. | F |
| Ashley Joens | Iowa State | Big 12 | 6-1 | Sr. | G/F |
| Haley Jones | Stanford | Pac-12 | 6-1 | Sr. | G |
| Deja Kelly | North Carolina | ACC | 5-8 | Jr. | G |
| Elizabeth Kitley | Virginia Tech | ACC | 6-6 | Sr. | C |
| Ta’Niya Latson | Florida State | ACC | 5-8 | Fr. | G |
| Olivia Miles | Notre Dame | ACC | 5-10 | So. | G |
| Diamond Miller | Maryland | Big Ten | 6-3 | Sr. | G |
| Aneesah Morrow | DePaul | Big East | 6-1 | So | F |
| Charisma Osborne | UCLA | Pac-12 | 5-9 | Sr. | G |
| Alissa Pili | Utah | Pac-12 | 6-2 | Jr. | F |
| Angel Reese | LSU | SEC | 6-3 | So. | F |
| Maddy Siegrist | Villanova | Big East | 6-2 | Sr. | F |
| Hailey Van Lith | Louisville | ACC | 5-7 | Jr. | G |