LOS ANGELES – Vanderbilt women’s basketball standout Mikayla Blakes has been selected to the 2026 Wooden Award Women’s Basketball National Ballot. With her inclusion on the ballot, Blakes is a candidate for both the Wooden All-America Team and the Wooden Award Trophy, which recognizes the most outstanding women’s college basketball player in the country.
Blakes is one of 15 players selected to the ballot by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board and is eligible for the Wooden Award All-America Team and the Wooden Award Trophy.
Voting for the 2026 John R. Wooden Award All-America Team presented by Principal will open March 16 at 5 a.m. CT and close March 28 at 10:59 p.m. CT. Voters will evaluate each candidate’s full body of work, including performances in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The Wooden Award Women’s All-America Teams, along with the top five finalists for the Wooden Award Trophy, will be announced April 4 during the Men’s Final Four.
The guard averaged 27.0 points, 4.4 assists and 2.9 steals per game. Blakes shot 45.8 percent from the floor and held a 36.1 percent success rate from behind the arc in 2025-26. Her 27.0 points per game led NCAA Division I in scoring, as her 12 games with 30-plus points this season were the most by a player in the country. Additionally, Blakes is a finalist for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
The Somerset, New Jersey, native has been racking up the awards in 2025-26. Earlier this week, Blakes was named the SEC Player of the Year by both the league’s coaches and USA Today. Blakes was named All-SEC first team by both outlets, while she was the only unanimous selection by USA Today, and also selected as a first-team All-American by The Athletic.
Blakes set the SEC ablaze this season. The All-American averaged 30.5 points per game, while shooting 46.9 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from behind the arc in league games. The guard had 10 of her 12 30-point efforts in the SEC, which includes a season-high 38 points at Mississippi State on Jan. 15. Blakes scored double-digits in every game this season and is currently riding a 50-game double-digit scoring streak, which is the longest active streak in the SEC and third-longest in NCAA Division I.
Blake was named the SEC Player of the Week a school-record six times this season, while she was selected as the AP National Player of the Year on three occasions, and has been part of the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week team five times.
The No. 5/5 Commodores will find out their draw for the 2026 NCAA Tournament this Sunday. The Selection Sunday show airs at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. Vanderbilt is in the position to host the first two rounds of the tournament at Memorial Gymnasium, as the Dores were a No. 2 seed in the latest NCAA Selection Committee Top 16.
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