IU junior guard Tyra Buss was named to the Naismith Trophy Women’s Preseason Watch List, announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Wednesday.
The award is given to the NCAA basketball male and female players of the year. Buss was one of 50 players in women’s college basketball to be named to the list and was one of just nine players from the Big Ten Conference to be recognized. The trophy is named after Dr. James Naismith, the creator of basketball, and was first awarded to women in 1983.
The junior out of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, leads IU with a team-high 18.3 points and 3.3 steals, 3.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds through six games this season. Buss has already broken a record this season. She was the fastest Hoosier to reach the 1,000-point plateau and is the 24th to have done so.
The list will be narrowed down to 30 players for a mid-season watch list and then eventually down to four players as voted on by coaches, administrators and journalists. Those four names will make up the final ballot.
Buss wasn’t the only Hoosier to have been placed on a watch list Wednesday. IU junior Amanda Cahill was selected as a nominee for the WBCA Good Works Team, which recognizes athletes’ efforts in their communities.
Cahill is one of 64 players to have been nominated for this award for contributions off of the court. According to IU, Cahill has volunteered her time with Hoosier HEROES, Indiana’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), IU Best Buddies, Camp Riley, Andrew Luck Change the Play camp, Hoosiers Outrun Cancer and the Candy Stripe Crew. She also spent three weeks teaching English, basketball and life skills to disadvantaged children in rural Vietnam.
Josh Eastern
