THE FLATS – Georgia Tech women’s basketball’s Cameron Swartz was one of 20 shooting guards named to the 2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced the candidates on Tuesday after a national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the initial watch list of 20 shooting guards.
The reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Most Improved Player, Swartz transferred to Georgia Tech for her fifth year of eligibility after leading Boston College in scoring last season, averaging 16.1 points per game. The Marietta, Ga., native ranked sixth overall in the league in scoring, earning an all-ACC first team nod. She led BC in three-pointers (60) and three-point field goal percentage (35.5), and shot 83.6 percent from the free throw line. She finished the season scoring 20-plus points in 13 games, including dropping a season-high 39 points at Clemson.
Named after the first player, male or female, selected to an All-America Team in four straight college seasons, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is in its sixth year recognizing the top shooting guard in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball. The watch list of 20 players will be narrowed to 10 in late January and then in late February to five. In March the five finalists will be presented to Meyers Drysdale and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
College fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the three rounds starting Friday, Oct. 21.
Previous winners of the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award include Christyn Williams (UConn – 2022), Ashley Owusu (Maryland – 2021), Aari McDonald (Arizona – 2020), Asia Durr (Louisville – 2019) and Victoria Vivians (Mississippi State – 2018).
For more information on the 2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, visit www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #MeyersAward on Twitter and Instagram.
2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Candidates*
| Jade Loville | Arizona |
| Ja’Mee Asberry | Baylor |
| Celeste Taylor | Duke |
| Cameron Swartz | Georgia Tech |
| Sara Scalia | Indiana |
| Hailey Van Lith | Louisville |
| Diamond Miller | Maryland |
| Leigha Brown | Michigan |
| Jaz Shelley | Nebraska |
| Jakia Brown-Turner | NC State |
| Taylor Mikesell | Ohio State |
| Taylor Robertson | Oklahoma |
| Zia Cooke | South Carolina |
| Elena Tsineke | South Florida |
| Jordan Horston | Tennessee |
| Sonya Morris | Texas |
| Charisma Osborne | UCLA |
| Azzi Fudd | UConn |
| Ashley Owusu | Virginia Tech |
| Charlisse Leger-Walker | Washington State |
*Players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2022-23 season
About Ann Meyers Drysdale:
Ann Meyers Drysdale’s career escalated women’s basketball to a new level. She was the first high school player to make the United States national team and the first woman to receive a full four-year athletic scholarship to UCLA. Her high-octane approach translated into wins and awards and she finished her impressive career at UCLA owning 12 of 13 school records including becoming the first player to record a quadruple double in UCLA history. A supremely talented all-around player with natural basketball ability and instincts, Meyers Drysdale was the first player, male or female, named to an All-America team in four straight seasons and was named Player of the Year during her senior year. While still at UCLA, she started on the first women’s Olympic team in 1976. After an All-America career, she became the first player drafted into the Women’s Basketball League, earning WBL MVP and making history by becoming the first female player to tryout with an NBA team, the Indiana Pacers, with whom she signed a free agent contract. Meyers Drysdale pushed the envelope in women’s basketball, bringing a feel and sense for the game that few players ever exhibited. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2007, she was the 1st American Women to be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2012, Meyers Drysdale became one of the first annual naming honorees on the women’s side of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) with the organization’s National Women’s Player of the Year. Since retiring from professional play, she has had a very successful career as an NBA and WNBA executive, as well as a color commentator for the NBA, WNBA and the Olympic Games in 1984, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. In 2005 she received the ASAMA Ronald Reagan Media Award and in 2019, she was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.
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