State Farm Coaches All-America Basketball Team and State Farm Wade Trophy Winner

The 2008 Women’s All-America Team was announced today and the winners of this prestige award were:

Sylvia Fowles – Sr. Center, LSU
Crystal Langhorne – Sr. Center, Maryland
Erlana Larkins – Sr. Forward, North Carolina
Angel McCoughtry - Jr. Forward, Louisville
Renee Montgomery - Jr. Guard, Connecticut
Maya Moore – Fr. Forward, Connecticut
Courtney Paris - Jr. Center, Oklahoma
Candace Parker - Sr. Guard/Forward/Center, Tennessee
Kristi Toliver – Jr. Guard, Maryland
Candice Wiggins – Sr. Guard, Stanford

Each recipient was asked to say a few words which caught the players off guard. This is the first time that the players have been given the opportunity to thank their families, coaches and teammates during the actual presentation.

The announcement of the players selected to the All-America Team was not a surprised. Each player demonstrated game in and game out why they deserved this accolade. What was a surprised to the crowd was the selection of the 2008 State Farm Wade Trophy winner: Candice Wiggins from Stanford. After her name was announced, Candice almost fell out of her chair while the players on stage, as well as many people in attendance, roared with applause.

Most people expected the winner would be Candace Parker from Tennessee. And even though Parker has had a very good year with getting Tennessee back to the Final Four, I think the following highlights more than prove that Wiggins was the correct choice:

- helped lead Stanford to their first Final Four since 1997
- only the 7th player in Division I history to earn All-America honors for all 4 seasons
- earned Pac-10 Player of the Year accolades for the third year (only woman in basketball in Pac-10 history)
- leading scorer in Pac-10, averaging 20.2 points
- 1st player in NCAA history to record two 40+ point performances in NCAA tournament (44 against UTEP and 41 against Maryland)


After the presentation, I had the honor to interview Courtney Paris from Oklahoma.

Q: How does it feel to be selected to the All-America team for a third time?
A: It’s very humbling…the bar in women’s basketball is rising every year and to be picked as a top player is a big honor for me.

Q: You’ve achieved a lot of honors and records so far in your three years at Oklahoma. Would you return any of the honors/records for a shot at a title?
A: I would return all of it at a shot at the title. I have one more shot next year. We’re going to prepare ourselves to get it done. With all these guys graduating (Parker, Wiggins, Langhorne, etc.) it’s going to help a lot too.

Q: What do you think of the incoming class (of high school players)?
A: It seems like their going to make a big impact. I think it shows how much our game has grown.

Q: There has been some negativity with Maya Moore not being considered for player of the year honors because she is a freshman. How do you feel about this?
A: Sometimes that’s just the way it goes. She’s definitely done everything on the court that deserves being a national player of the year. I think being a freshman should have nothing to do with it. The national player of the year should go to the best player.