EVANS, VAN LITH NAMED TO NAISMITH PRESEASON TROPHY WATCH LIST -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE WBB LANDS TWO ON NAISMITH WATCH LIST

The preseason honors and awards continue to roll in for the Louisville WBB squad. Two Cardinals -- Dana Evans and Hailey Van Lith -- have been named to the 2021 Women's Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List. 

The Naismith is designated to determine the best player in men and women's college basketball and 50 players are on each pre-season list. That'll get paired down to 30 in early February, then 10 on March 2nd, four on March 19th and the winner announced on April 3rd. Players who didn't make the preseason list are eligible to make the mid-season list. 

It's the first time on the list for both Evans and Van Lith.. 

Evans, a senior from Gary, Indiana has a trophy case full of preseason honors. Van Lith, a freshman, has also been named on several ACC preseason list, too. For the Naismith, Van Lith, a resident of Wenatchee, WA is only one of two freshmen listed -- the other being Paige Bueckers (UConn). 

All told, 11 conferences had players named to the list. The SEC, Big 12 and Pac 12 had nine players each make the list. The ACC was next, with seven. The Big 10 landed six, the Big East had five and there was one player each from C-USA, OVC, MVC, MWC and the WCC. 

UConn placed four players on the list ( Bueckers, Olivia Nelson-Odoba, Evina Westbrook and Christyn Williams). 

Besides Evans and VanLith, the other ACC watch-list players: Sam Brunelle (Notre Dame), Elissa Cunane (NC State), Kiara Lewis (Syracuse), Tiana Mangakhia (Syracuse) and Taylor Soule (Boston College). 

Rhyne Howard (Kentucky) was named to the list and Ali Patberg (IU) also received the honor. Howard made it to the Naismith Final Four last season -- along with Lauren Cox, Tyasha Harris and the winner -- Sabrina Ionescu. 

Good luck to our Cardinals and let's see if we can maybe add a few to that mid-season watch list!  

THE 50

2021 Women’s Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List

NAME	CLASS	POSITION	SCHOOL	CONFERENCE
Aliyah Boston	So.	F	South Carolina	SEC
Sam Brunelle	So.	F	Notre Dame	ACC
Paige Bueckers	Fr.	G	UConn	BIG EAST
DiJonai Carrington	Sr.	G	Baylor	Big 12
Jessika Carter	Jr.	F/C	Mississippi St.	SEC
Charli Collier	Jr.	F/C	Texas	Big 12
Zia Cooke	So.	G	South Carolina	SEC
Elissa Cunane	Jr.	C	NC State	ACC
Rennia Davis	Sr.	G/F	Tennessee	SEC
Chelsea Dungee	Sr.	G	Arkansas	SEC
Dana Evans	Sr.	G	Louisville	ACC
Aleah Goodman	Sr.	G	Oregon State	Pac-12
Vivian Gray	Sr.	G	Texas Tech	Big 12
Arella Guirantes	Sr.	G	Rutgers	Big Ten
Lauren Heard	Sr.	G	TCU	Big 12
Lexi Held	Jr.	G	DePaul	BIG EAST
Naz Hillmon	Jr.	F	Michigan	Big Ten
Rhyne Howard	Jr.	G	Kentucky	SEC
Lexie Hull	Jr.	G	Stanford	Pac-12
Rickea Jackson	So.	F	Mississippi St.	SEC
Ashley Joens	Jr.	G/F	Iowa State	Big 12
Haley Jones	So.	G	Stanford	Pac-12
N'Dea Jones	Sr.	F	Texas A&M	SEC
Taylor Jones	So.	F	Oregon State	Pac-12
Dorka Juhász	Jr.	F	Ohio State	Big Ten
Ayoka Lee	So.	C	Kansas State	Big 12
Kiara Lewis	Sr.	G	Syracuse	ACC
Natasha Mack	Sr.	F	Oklahoma State	Big 12
Tiana Mangakahia	Sr.	G	Syracuse	ACC
Aari McDonald	Sr.	G	Arizona	Pac-12
Nancy Mulkey	Sr.	C	Rice	C-USA
Olivia Nelson-Ododa	Jr.	F	UConn	BIG EAST
Michaela Onyenwere	Sr.	F	UCLA	Pac-12
Ashley Owusu	So.	G	Maryland	Big Ten
Ali Patberg	Sr.	G	Indiana	Big Ten
Chelsey Perry	Sr.	F	Tennessee-Martin	OVC
Lasha Petree	Jr.	G	Bradley	MVC
Alissa Pili	So.	F	USC	Pac-12
Lindsey Pulliam	Sr.	G	Northwestern	Big Ten
Cate Reese	Jr.	F	Arizona	Pac-12
DiDi Richards	Sr.	G	Baylor	Big 12
Destiny Slocum	Sr.	G	Arkansas	SEC
NaLyssa Smith	Jr.	F	Baylor	Big 12
Taylor Soule	Jr.	F	Boston College	ACC
Jill Townsend	Sr.	G	Gonzaga	WCC
Maddi Utti	Sr.	F	Fresno St.	MWC
Hailey Van Lith	Fr.	G	Louisville	ACC
Evina Westbrook	Jr.	G	UConn	BIG EAST
Christyn Williams	Jr.	G	UConn	BIG EAST
Kiana Williams	Sr.	G	Stanford	Pac-12

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

paulie