Sabrina Ionescu has a chance to join a very short list by winning a second consecutive Wade Trophy, awarded annually to the best player in women's college basketball.
The Oregon senior guard will take a big step toward that goal by proving she is the best player in the Pac-12, a conference that dominated the midseason watch list for the 2020 Wade Trophy, as announced Wednesday by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Ionescu is one of 10 players from the Pac-12 who appear on the midseason list of 40 candidates for this year's Wade Trophy. She is joined by Oregon teammates Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally.
UCLA guard Japreece Dean was one of 10 additions to the preseason watch list, joining teammate Michaela Onyenwere.
Oregon State's Mikayla Pivec and Destiny Slocum and Stanford's DiJonai Carrington and Kiana Williams also gave those respective programs multiple players on the midseason list, although Carrington has played little this season because of injury.
Arizona guard Aari McDonald is the other Pac-12 player on the watch list.
The Pac-12 has five teams ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll.
Along with UCLA's Dean, Louisville's Dana Evans and Jazmine Jones were among the midseason additions. The Cardinals are the only team that had more than one player added to the list. Baylor's Te'a Cooper, NC State's Elissa Cunane, Iowa's Kathleen Doyle, Oklahoma State's Vivian Gray, Central Michigan's Micaela Kelly, Northwestern's Lindsey Pulliam and Virginia's Jocelyn Willoughby were the other additions announced Wednesday.
Princeton's Bella Alarie, Drake's Becca Hittner and Central Michigan's Kelly are the only players on the watch list who do not play in a Power 5 conference or for UConn.
The WBCA will narrow the list to four finalists in March. The Wade Trophy will be awarded April 2 during the Final Four in New Orleans.
Ionescu is seeking to become the sixth back-to-back winner in the award's 43-year history. She would join Seimone Augustus, Brittney Griner, Nancy Lieberman, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart as the only such winners. Moore is the only player to win the award three times.