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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Dominates Big 12 Conference Awards

Skylar Vann was the fourth Sooner to earn Big 12 Player of the Year accolades, while Payton Verhulst and coach Jennie Baranczyk were also honored.
John E. Hoover|
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Dominates Big 12 Conference Awards
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Dominates Big 12 Conference Awards

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Oklahoma Sooners

NORMAN — Oklahoma senior Skylar Vann was named Co-Big 12 Player of the Year on Tuesday, the league announced.

In leading the Sooners to back-to-back regular season championships, Vann was honored as co-player of the year along with Texas' Madison Booker.

Head coach Jennie Baranczyk was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and former Louisville transfer Payton Verhulst was named Newcomer of the Year.

The 2024 All-Big 12 basketball teams were revealed Tuesday as well, and four Sooners landed spots on the squad. Freshman Sahara Williams and senior Nevaeh Tot earned honorable mention, while Vann and Verhulst were chose first team All-Big 12. 

Vann, who won back-to-back Big 12 Sixth Player Awards in 2022 and 2023, becomes the fourth Sooner to win Big 12 Player of the Year, joining Phylesha Whaley (2000), Stacey Dales (2001, 2002) and Courtney Paris (2007-09). 

The Edmond, OK, product, posted 15.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in the regular season and was the only player in the league to average 15.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.5 APG and 1.0 SPG. She joined Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and JuJu Watkins (USC) as one of three Power Five players to post the line nationally. 

The unanimous first-team selection marked the first of her career, as Oklahoma has now posted at least one unanimous first-team player in each of the last three seasons under Baranczyk.

Baranczyk was voted Big 12 Coach of the Year by her colleagues for the first time as Oklahoma's head coach. The third-year Sooner head coach orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in college basketball, guiding OU to a 15-3 league record (21-8 overall) and its second consecutive Big 12 regular season championship after being picked fifth in the league's preseason poll. 

Despite replacing four starters from last year's championship team, Baranczyk led the Sooners to five top-25 wins and the third-best winning percentage versus NET top-25 teams in the country en route to a championship. The accolade marks the third time in 12 seasons that Baranczyk has been awarded the league's coach of the year honor, earning coach of the year honors twice while at Drake. Baranczyk is the second Oklahoma coach to win the league's coach of the year award, as hall of fame coach Sherri Coale won the accolade four times.

Verhulst collected the league's Newcomer of the Year award after transferring to Oklahoma from Louisville. The junior averaged 12.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.1 steals per outing for the Sooners, posting four double-doubles in conference play. 

Verhulst was the only player in the country to average 12.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists in under 30 minutes per game as the De Soto, KS, native produced one of the most efficient seasons in program history. In addition to Newcomer of the Year, Verhulst was one of OU's two selections (Vann) to the Big 12's 10-member First Team.

Tot, Oklahoma's only returning starter this season, averaged 6.9 points, 4.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game for the Sooners. Her assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.2 in league play led the conference as Verhulst finished second at 2.2. 

In conference play, Tot averaged 5.2 assists and just 1.7 turnovers per contest as she became the fourth Sooner to post four consecutive seasons of 100 assists. Her 14-point, 10-assist performance at then-No. 10 Texas made her the first Sooner to post 10 assists and zero turnovers against a top-10 team.

Williams posted 9.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game to become the first OU freshman to earn All-Big 12 honors since Ana Llanusa claimed an honorable mention in 2018. Her three double-doubles were the third-most for a freshman in program history behind Paris (33) and Madi Williams (7), both of whom earned unanimous first-team selections later in their careers. 

The Waterloo, IA, product scored in double figures in eight conference games, including a career-high 20 points to help defeat Oklahoma State by 35 points on Feb. 24. She posted double-doubles versus then-No. 12 Ole Miss, Virginia and UNLV.

2023-24 Big 12 Women's Basketball Honors 

Co-Player of the Year: Skylar Vann, Oklahoma
Co-Player of the Year: Madison Booker, Texas
Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
Freshman of the Year: Madison Booker, Texas
Newcomer of the Year: Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma
Sixth Player Award: DeYona Gaston, Texas
Coach of the Year: Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma

All-Big 12 First Team

Lauren Gustin, BYU
Audi Crooks, Iowa State*
Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas
S'Mya Nichols, Kansas
Ayoka Lee, Kansas State*
Serena Sundell, Kansas State
Skylar Vann, Oklahoma*
Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma
Madison Booker, Texas*
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia

All-Big 12 Second Team

Sarah Andrews, Baylor
Kaitlin Peterson, UCF
Madison Conner, TCU
Aaliyah Moore, Texas
Jordan Harrison, West Virginia

All-Big 12 Honorable Mention

Aijha Blackwell (Baylor), Dre’Una Edwards (Baylor), Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (Baylor), Kailey Woolston (BYU), Jillian Hayes (Cincinnati), Laila Blair (Houston), Addy Brown (Iowa State), Zakiyah Franklin (Kansas), Holly Kersgieter (Kansas), Gabby Gregory (Kansas State), Nevaeh Tot (Oklahoma), Sahara Williams (Oklahoma), Anna Gret Asi (Oklahoma State), Sedona Prince (TCU), Shaylee Gonzales (Texas), Shay Holle (Texas), Taylor Jones (Texas), Bailey Maupin (Texas Tech), Jasmine Shavers (Texas Tech)

Big 12 All-Defensive Team

Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas
Ayoka Lee, Kansas State
Shay Holle, Texas
Jordan Harrison, West Virginia
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia

Big 12 All-Freshman Team

Addy Brown, Iowa State
Audi Crooks, Iowa State*
S’Mya Nichols, Kansas*
Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State
Madison Booker, Texas*

*Notates unanimous selection

OU Media Relations contributed to this report

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

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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