Oklahoma's Madi Williams Named Finalist For Cheryl Miller Award

The trophy is named after a women's basketball pioneer and goes to the college game's best small forward.

John E. Hoover|

Oklahoma's Madi Williams Named Finalist For Cheryl Miller Award

Oklahoma senior Madi Williams was named Wednesday one of five finalists for the Cheryl Miller Award,

The award, which goes each year to the top small forward in Division I women’s college basketball, is named for former USC Trojan All-American and three-time Naismith Player of the Year Cheryl Miller.

Williams, Iowa State’s Ashley Joens, Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard, Stanford’s Haley Jones and Louisivlle’s Emily Engstler are the finalists.

Williams has guided resurgent Oklahoma to a 23-7 record this season under first-year coach Jennie Baranczyk by leading the Sooners in points (17.7) and rebounds (7.7) per game.

Williams, a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 pick, is the only player in the nation to average 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists on less than 30 minutes a game, and she’s one of just three players since 2009 to achieve those numbers (UConn legends Breanna Stewart and Maya Moore, who combined for five Wade Trophies, both did it).

Williams has scored in double-digits in all but one game this season and has eight double-doubles, which ranks seventh all-time at Oklahoma. She’s also the 14th Sooner to reach 1,500 points in a career.

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Published Mar 10, 2022

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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