UofL WBB Cochran Named to 2023 Katrina McClain Award Watch List

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced today that University of Louisville women’s basketball junior forward Olivia Cochran is one of 20 watch list candidates for the 2023 Katrina McClain Award. Named after the two-time All-American and 1987 National Player of the Year, the annual award in its sixth year recognizes the top power forwards in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball.

Cochran enters her junior season at Louisville as one of the most experienced returners from the 2021-22 Final Four team. She is one of two players returning that started over 30 games last season and is the team’s leading rebounder returning. She averaged 8.6 points and 5.1 rebounds last season and it is the second-straight season she was named to the McClain Award Watch List. In the Elite Eight win over Michigan, Cochran scored six-straight points to extend the Cardinals lead to eight with just 33 seconds remaining. 

Louisville is one of three teams to have a player named to each of the four positional watch lists so far this season. Chrislyn Carr was named to the Lieberman Award Watch List, Hailey Van Lith was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List and Morgan Jones was named to the Cheryl Miller Award Watch List. 

Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the three rounds starting Friday, October 21. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2023 Katrina McClain Award will be narrowed to 10 and then in late February to just five. In March the five finalists will be presented to McClain and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
 
The winner of the 2023 Katrina McClain Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Women’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Award (Point Guard), Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (Shooting Guard), Cheryl Miller Award (Small Forward) and the Lisa Leslie Award (Center), in addition to the Men’s Starting Five.
 
Previous winners of the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year Award are NaLyssa Smith, Baylor (2021), Ruthy Hebard, Oregon (2018, 2020) and Napheesa Collier, Connecticut (2019).
 
For more information on the 2023 Katrina McClain Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #McClainAward on Twitter and Instagram.
 
2023 Katrina McClain Award Candidates*
Esmery Martinez, Arizona
Addie Budnik, Richmond
Cate Reese, Arizona
Sania Feagin, South Carolina
Erynn Barnum, Arkansas
Victoria Saxton, South Carolina
DreUna Edwards, Baylor
Cameron Brink, Stanford
Lauren Gustin, BYU
Jasmine Franklin, Tennessee
Emma Ronsiek, Creighton
Aaliyah Moore, Texas
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul
Aaliyah Edwards, UConn
Olivia Cochran, Louisville
Alissa Pili, Utah
Angel Reese, LSU
Maddy Siegrist, Villanova
Maddy Westbeld, Notre Dame
Sam Brunelle, Virginia
 
*Players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2022-23 season
 
About Katrina McClain-Pittman:
Katrina McClain-Pittman was a prolific rebounder and terrific scorer in a career that spanned three Olympic Games and three continents. Before she earned her stripes for USA Basketball, McClain-Pittman starred at the University of Georgia where she was a two-time Kodak All-American and the WBCA National Player of the Year her senior season. She left Georgia as the school’s second all-time leading scorer and rebounder, averaging a double-double her final two seasons in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs reached the 1985 NCAA Final Four and national championship game with McClain-Pittman controlling the paint and Teresa Edwards running the offense. The two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year finished her international career with two Olympic gold medals and one bronze, three FIBA World Championships medals, and five medals at the Goodwill Games, Pan Am Games, and World University Games. In all, McClain-Pittman appeared on eleven USA Basketball rosters becoming one of the most decorated athletes in USA Basketball history. She has been inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, the Georgia State Hall of Fame, and the National High School Hall of Fame, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981 or call 1-770-279-8027.
 
About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo “Court of Dreams.” Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game’s elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophall or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.
 
Basketball Hall of Fame Media Contact
Patrick O’Connell, Position Sports // mediarelations@positionsports.com