sabrina ionescu

The season might not have turned out the way Sabrina Ionescu wanted - on the court with a title, but she continued to reap honors Tuesday, being named the John. R. Wooden Award winner for the second straight year.

That adds to the Naismith Award and Wade Trophy as the nation's top player having led the Ducks to the Pac-12 Conference tournament title and No. 2 ranking heading into the NCAA Tournament, which was cancelled in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ionescu averaged 17.5 points per game, 9.2 assists and 8.6 rebounds per game and was the first college player to pass 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in her four-year career.

Oregon finished 31-2.

Senior Payton Pritchard earned the Bob Cousy Award Tuesday for being the nation's top point guard after leading Oregon to the Pac-12 regular season title. He was named a first-team All-American last week. Pritchard averaged 20 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. He was named the Lute Olson Award winner as the nation's top player in late March.

Oregon finished 24-7 and ranked No. 9. 

Both Ionescu and Pritchard were honored as Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Sabrina Ionescu hit the big-time Friday, as in New York City.

The University of Oregon senior and top college basketball player in the nation the past two years was selected No. 1 by the New York Liberty in the WNBA Draft on ESPN. The draft was held without attendees due to the COVID-19 sheltering guidelines.

Ionescu set numerous records at Oregon as well as the Pac-12, and is the only college player to finish her career with 2,000 combined points as well as 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.

"I've been working for this for my entire basketball career and super excited to see that come to fruition,'' Ionescu said from her home in California. "I'm very humbled and excited for the opportunity.''

In an early sign of what is to come in terms of merchandising clout and popularity with Ionescu, her fans rushed to the team's website to snap up her new Liberty jersey, which sold out within an hour of her being drafted No. 1.

Later in the day, Ionescu and Nike announced they had reached a marketing deal for her to wear that companies shoes.

New York won the league's draft lottery in September, having the best odds from the four teams that did not reach the league playoffs. The WNBA Draft lottery uses combined team records from the two previous seasons as part of its equation. The Liberty was 17-51 the past two seasons.

Oregon truly hit the jackpot for draft picks as fellow Duck Sabrina Sabally was selected second by the Dallas Wings and Ruthy Hebard was taken eighth by the Chicago Sky.

The league's 12 teams drafted through three rounds.

Oregon State guard Mikayla Pivec was taken by the Atlanta Dream with the first pick of the third round.

The league schedule had been slated to start May 15, but that's on hold.

IONESCU GETS UNANIMOUS APPROVAL

Returning for her senior season worked out pretty good for Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu record-wise.

Ionescu capped an unprecedented college career by entering an exclusive club Monday, March 23.

Oregon’s star guard was the unanimous choice as The Associated Press women’s basketball player of the year, receiving all 30 votes from the national media panel that selects the Top 25 each week during the season.

Since the award was first given in 1995, the only other player to receive all the votes was Breanna Stewart of Connecticut (2016).

“That’s pretty crazy - someone I look up to and have a good relationship with,” Ionescu told the AP Monday. “To be in that class with her is an honor.”

Ionescu, who was only the eighth player to earn AP All-America honors three times, shattered the NCAA career triple-double mark and became the first player in college history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.

Ionescu averaged 17.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds this season as well as having eight of her 26 career triple-doubles.

She helped the Ducks, who started the season ranked No. 1, win the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles. The native of Walnut Creek, California, was honored as the conference’s most outstanding player of the tournament and regular season.

Oregon had a 31-2 record and was headed toward playing host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, as well as a likely spot in the Portland Regional set for the Moda Center when the season abruptly ended due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Oregon basketball program has been improving in quality on an annual basis, but this season may be one of the finest for the combined men's and women's teams, at least according to Sports Illustrated magazine and it's preseason rankings.

Oregon starts out as No. 1 in the women's rankings, while the men are at No. 17. Only Maryland and Baylor have a women's team in the Top 10 and men's team in the Top 25. Baylor is No. 2 and 18, while Maryland is No. 5 and 7.

The Ducks are coming off perhaps their best post-season run with the women's team reaching the Final Four and the men's team getting to the Sweet 16. Only the 2017 tournament was better for the program as the men reached the Final Four, while the women played into the Elite 8.

Could this be the year for a national champion in Eugene?

Both teams are coming off Pac-12 Tournament titles.

The women open their season No. 11 with a home game against Northeastern.

The men's team, led by four-year starter Payton Pritchard, open Nov. 5 against Fresno State, and play No. 16 Memphis in Portland, Nov. 12.

The Oregon women's basketball team continues it's drive to make a national name for itself ahead of the NCAA Tournament this weekend when it faces Cal and Stanford at home.

And, that's great timing as the Ducks are unbeaten at Matthew Knight Arena this season.

The sixth-ranked Ducks face Cal, ranked No. 25, Friday, then Stanford, ranked No. 24, Sunday, with a shot at reaching 15-0 at home.

Oregon is ranked as high as it's ever been, and is leading the Pac-12 Conference with a shot at winning the regular-season title for the first time since 2000. The team reached 20 wins last weekend, the quickest it's gotten to that mark in program history.

The Ducks have not won the conference tournament since it began in 2002. Stanford is the defending champion and has won the tournament in all-but four years since then.