University of Tennessee Athletics
Jackson Chosen For Wooden Award Preseason Watch List
November 14, 2023 | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal® announced the Women's Preseason Top 50 Watch List Tuesday on ESPN's SportsCenter and on ESPN.com, and Tennessee's Rickea Jackson is among that elite collection of players.
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.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2024 John R. Wooden Award Women's Player of the Year presented by Principal. 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. 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 2024 John R. Wooden Award will be presented in Los Angeles in April.
Jackson's inclusion on the Wooden Award list is the most recent preseason recognition for the 6-foot-2 forward from Detroit, Mich. Previously, the Lady Vol fifth-year player was named to the Naismith and Wade Trophy National Player of the Year Watch Lists as well as the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Watch List, SEC Coaches and Media All-SEC First Teams and AP All-America Honorable Mention Team.
Through two games this season, Jackson leads Tennessee and ranks second among SEC players in scoring at 22.0 points per game and rebounding at 12.0 rebounds per contest. She is shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line, and she is tied for first on the team in assists per game at 3.0. The Big Orange standout's stats are buoyed by a brilliant showing at No. 18/22 Florida State on Nov. 9, as she became the seventh player in school history with a 30/15+ double-double, carding 31 points and a career-best 17 rebounds along with a team-high four assists in 37 minutes.
In her first year on Rocky Top in 2022-23, Jackson produced 19.2 ppg., 6.1 rpg. and 1.4 apg. in 28.3 minutes per contest, shooting career bests of 54.8 percent from the field and 79.2 percent from the charity stripe. She wound up No. 3 in scoring, No. 4 in field goal percentage, No. 5 in free throw percentage and No. 15 in rebounding in the SEC. Her points average also ranked fifth all-time by a senior at Tennessee, and it qualified as the No. 5 career scoring average by a Lady Vol as well.
Jackson accumulated 16 games with 20 points or more a year ago, ranking No. 9 at UT for both season and career totals. She logged eight straight contests of 20+ points, surpassing seven-game efforts by Candace Parker (2006-07) and Bridgette Gordon (1987-88). The only Lady Vol with more consecutive 20+ point performances in a row is four-time All-American Chamique Holdsclaw, who strung nine together in 1997-98.
The three-time WBCA All-America Honorable Mention choice and two-time member of the All-SEC and SEC All-Tournament Teams got even better as the season went on, elevating her production to 21.4 ppg. and 6.4 in league play with 12 efforts of 20+ points. She then was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team after averaging 25.7 ppg. and 7.7 rpg through three contests of that event.
Over the summer, Jackson averaged a team-leading 14.6 ppg. and added 4.9 rpg. on the silver medal-winning USA squad alongside teammate Jewel Spear at the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup in León, Mexico. Jackson's scoring average was fourth among the 109 players in the tournament, earning her a spot in the AmeriCup All-Star Five, and her 102 points for the week were the second-most in USA AmeriCup history behind Lisa Leslie (129, 7 games, 1993).
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the 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. Honorees 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.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities' general scholarship fund 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 Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
The Legends of Coaching Award presented by Principal will be presented to University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, along with the Wooden Award Men's and Women's Players of the Year on April 12, 2024. For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
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.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2024 John R. Wooden Award Women's Player of the Year presented by Principal. 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. 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 2024 John R. Wooden Award will be presented in Los Angeles in April.
Jackson's inclusion on the Wooden Award list is the most recent preseason recognition for the 6-foot-2 forward from Detroit, Mich. Previously, the Lady Vol fifth-year player was named to the Naismith and Wade Trophy National Player of the Year Watch Lists as well as the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Watch List, SEC Coaches and Media All-SEC First Teams and AP All-America Honorable Mention Team.
Through two games this season, Jackson leads Tennessee and ranks second among SEC players in scoring at 22.0 points per game and rebounding at 12.0 rebounds per contest. She is shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line, and she is tied for first on the team in assists per game at 3.0. The Big Orange standout's stats are buoyed by a brilliant showing at No. 18/22 Florida State on Nov. 9, as she became the seventh player in school history with a 30/15+ double-double, carding 31 points and a career-best 17 rebounds along with a team-high four assists in 37 minutes.
In her first year on Rocky Top in 2022-23, Jackson produced 19.2 ppg., 6.1 rpg. and 1.4 apg. in 28.3 minutes per contest, shooting career bests of 54.8 percent from the field and 79.2 percent from the charity stripe. She wound up No. 3 in scoring, No. 4 in field goal percentage, No. 5 in free throw percentage and No. 15 in rebounding in the SEC. Her points average also ranked fifth all-time by a senior at Tennessee, and it qualified as the No. 5 career scoring average by a Lady Vol as well.
Jackson accumulated 16 games with 20 points or more a year ago, ranking No. 9 at UT for both season and career totals. She logged eight straight contests of 20+ points, surpassing seven-game efforts by Candace Parker (2006-07) and Bridgette Gordon (1987-88). The only Lady Vol with more consecutive 20+ point performances in a row is four-time All-American Chamique Holdsclaw, who strung nine together in 1997-98.
The three-time WBCA All-America Honorable Mention choice and two-time member of the All-SEC and SEC All-Tournament Teams got even better as the season went on, elevating her production to 21.4 ppg. and 6.4 in league play with 12 efforts of 20+ points. She then was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team after averaging 25.7 ppg. and 7.7 rpg through three contests of that event.
Over the summer, Jackson averaged a team-leading 14.6 ppg. and added 4.9 rpg. on the silver medal-winning USA squad alongside teammate Jewel Spear at the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup in León, Mexico. Jackson's scoring average was fourth among the 109 players in the tournament, earning her a spot in the AmeriCup All-Star Five, and her 102 points for the week were the second-most in USA AmeriCup history behind Lisa Leslie (129, 7 games, 1993).
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the 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. Honorees 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.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities' general scholarship fund 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 Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
The Legends of Coaching Award presented by Principal will be presented to University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, along with the Wooden Award Men's and Women's Players of the Year on April 12, 2024. For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
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