Yvonne Ejim Stays in the Race for National Awards

The Wooden Award and Becky Hammond Award is still within the Gonzaga forward’s grasp.

As highlighted in my article published last week, Yvonne Ejim is in the running for various national awards and some of those just trimmed their shortlists as the season comes ever closer to its conclusion.

Becky Hammond POTY Watch list, an award gifted to the best mid-major player in the nation, announced their change earlier today and Ejim has made the cut for the top 10 possible players still in contention. This is a fairly new award in the college landscape having only been given since 2020, but Yvonne has an opportunity to become the first ever 2-time winner of this award given that she took home the honors last year.

After announcing their initial top 25 players just after the new year, the Wooden Award National Advisory Board made some adjustments and announced their top 20 players yesterday, which thankfully included Vonny. She’s surrounded by some impressive players like Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins so while she may not take home this piece of silverware, the fact that she’s in consideration speaks volumes to both the Canadian’s quality of play on the court and her character off the court.

And finally, the Naismith College Player of the Year Award’s Midseason Watchlist was announced earlier today and we again see the star forward making an appearance. While I can’t be entirely certain if Vonny’s inclusion for this award and the Wooden Award represents the first time for a Gonzaga Women’s player, I can be certain that if she were to take home one or both of these honors, it would be a first for not only Gonzaga, but also the West Coast Conference.

One of the coolest things about watching Ejim on the court and some of the brief interviews and other off-court appearances is that she seems so cool in every sense of the word. When she’s playing, the intensity is non-stop, but she doesn’t lose her sportsmanship as you can routinely see her helping opponents off the floor or given feedback to teammates in what looks like positive language. Academically, she’s pursuing a science degree with the possibility of a medical career in the future, which is something that I can’t imagine doing while playing NCAA D1 sports. And while I can’t speak to her off the court to much depth, she just seems like a lovely human in the moments that I’ve seen.

If you’ve got the opportunity to check out a game in person this year, I would make it a priority because it maybe some time before the Zags got a gal like her again (although Allie Turner is looking pretty capable as a freshman). Catch ya’ll tomorrow!