Heard Named to Lieberman Award Watch List
Here comes Heard! Lauren Heard and The Lady Frogs are making some noise. This week, we have a preseason nomination to announce. TCU graduate student Lauren Heard has been named to the 2022 Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced today. This marks the second straight season that Heard has been named to the Lieberman Award watch list.
Going into the 23rd year, the award goes to the queen of the point guard position in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates. To be considered for this prestigious award, candidates must show they are that primetime player. Candidates exhibit the floor leadership, playmaking, and ball-handling skills of Class of 1996 Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman.
Heard is a slept-on candidate. She has had the nation's attention for quite some time now. Heard is one of 20 total players from the nation named to the watch list and the only player representing the Big 12 Conference. A two-time All-Big 12 First Team selection, Heard is coming off a 2020-21 campaign where she averaged 21.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. She also managed to dish out 4.8 assists and collect 2.6 steals per contest.
It's her time to shine. But she is also going to make sure the team shines as well. She is the type of player that puts the team first. With her leadership and stats. it shows. The Denton, Texas native was the only player in the Big 12 to rank among the league’s top-10 players in points, rebounds, assists, and steals last season. She was just one of three players in the nation overall to rank among the top-20 nationally in scoring and rank among the top-50 players in both steals and assists. She would go onto set TCU’s all-time single season scoring record with her 21.2 points per game, surpassing the previous mark of 20.3 points per game, which was set 25 years ago.
This is a time for TCU basketball athletes to standout. The women’s team this year has a lot of talent, and they can make a deep run. So, all college basketball fans, you are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2022 Nancy Liberman Point Guard of the Year Award will be narrowed to 10, and then in late February to just five. Lauren Heard is a standout candidate, and she can make some noise to gain this award. In March, the five finalists will be presented to Ms. Lieberman and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
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