After a stellar junior season during which Jasmine Thomas posted team-best averages in points, assists and steals, the point guard was named Tuesday to the preseason top-30 list for the 2011 John R. Wooden Award—given annually to the nation’s most outstanding student-athlete.
Thomas was one of 22 candidates on the final ballot for last year’s award, which Connecticut center Tina Charles won.
The team’s primary distributor will be without veteran teammates Joy Cheek, Bridgette Mitchell and Keturah Jackson this season, but head coach Joanne P. McCallie’s No. 1 recruiting class should replenish some of the lost production and give Thomas plenty of options in the offensive halfcourt.
Along with fellow seniors Krystal Thomas and Karima Christmas, Jasmine Thomas should be expected to increase her own point production as well, something she’s done each year in Durham. As a junior, Thomas increased her scoring average by 5.8 points up to 16 per game—the largest spike in school history. Thomas has also developed into a strong defensive guard, averaging 2.8 steals per game last season.
Thomas faces stiff competition for the Wooden award, and she is the only Blue Devil among the 30 players named on the watchlist. Other candidates include 2008-09 winner Maya Moore of Connecticut, now a senior, and Baylor sophomore Brittney Griner, who helped usher Duke out of the NCAA Tournament last season.
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