Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson, who have helped lead South Carolina to the No. 1 ranking for the entire women's college basketball season, headlined Wednesday's John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list.
Defending NCAA champion Stanford, with Cameron Brink and Final Four Most Outstanding Player Haley Jones, and Maryland, with Ashley Owusu and Angel Reese were the only other teams with multiple candidates.
UConn sophomore Paige Bueckers, the 2021 John R. Wooden Award winner, remained on the list despite suffering a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee last month that so far has limited her to six games this season. But Bueckers, who had surgery Dec. 13 and is expected to be sidelined until at least the second week of February, is the only Huskies player among the candidates; UConn had five players on the top 50 preseason list.
Reese is one of four players who weren't among the preseason candidates but made their way onto Wednesday's list. Indiana's Mackenzie Holmes, DePaul's Aneesah Morrow and Georgia's Jenna Staiti also landed in that category.
Morrow is the only freshman on the list, which includes nine seniors, 10 juniors and five sophomores. She is averaging 18.7 PPG and 12.0 PPG.
Boston, who also is averaging a double-double (16.9 points, 10.4 rebounds per game), is considered among the front-runners for national player of the year.
Last April, Bueckers became the first freshman to win the Wooden Award -- which is given annually to the top women's college basketball player in the country -- after leading the Huskies in points (20.0), assists (5.8) and steals (2.3) per game. Bueckers was the consensus national player of the year last season, winning the Associated Press Player of the Year honor and the Naismith Trophy.
Baylor senior forward NaLyssa Smith, who won the 2021 Wade Trophy and is expected to be a lottery pick in April's WNBA draft, also made the list.