Adding to her vast collection of honors, Iowa women’s basketball star Hannah Stuelke has been named to the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Award preseason watch list on Tuesday, per the association’s announcement.
The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is given annually to the women’s national player of the year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and is named in honor of the legendary UCLA guard, Ann Meyers Drysdale, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Having been awarded since the 1978-79 season, the Hawkeyes have won the award three times, with Caitlin Clark capturing back-to-back distinctions in 2022-23 and 2023-24 and Megan Gustafson winning in 2018-19.
The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native is Iowa’s top returning scorer and rebounder and is coming off a junior season in which she averaged 12.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game across 32 games played and started.
Stuelke opened her 2025-26 season by scoring 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds, one block and one assist in Iowa’s 86-51 win over Southern.
Including Stuelke, the Big Ten holds 11 of the 50 athletes named to the watch list, including UCLA‘s Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, and Gianna Kneepkins, Maryland’s Yarden Garzon, Oluchi Okananwa, and Kaylene Smikle, Michigan‘s Olivia Olson and Syla Swords, Washington‘s Sayvia Sellers, and Michigan State‘s Grace VanSlooten.
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At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for the award, which is voted on by the entire membership. The winner of the award will be announced at the 2026 Women’s Final Four in Phoenix, Ariz., with the formal presentation to follow at the annual USBWA Awards Luncheon hosted by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis, Mo.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women’s basketball star named to Ann Meyers Drysdale Watch List
