Arizona's Thomas named Pac-12 Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Mar 4, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO – ARIZONA senior/graduate student Sam Thomas has been named the 2021 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Conference office announced today. The award, which is presented in each of the 24 sports the Pac-12 sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.
Thomas currently carries a 4.00 grade-point average while pursuing a master's degree in educational leadership after completing her undergraduate studies with a 3.97 GPA.
She was a candidate for the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award, which annually recognizes NCAA Division I senior student-athletes who excel in the areas of community, classroom, character and competition. Off the court, Thomas has served as co-president of the Arizona Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and earned Pac-12 Winter Academic Honor Roll recognition in 2020 and was a Pac-12 All-Academic and CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team recipient in 2019.
On the court, Thomas received Pac-12 All-Conference and All-Defensive Team accolades after averaging 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocks through the regular season for the nationally ranked Wildcats. She has started all 117 games of her career to date and is the only player in Arizona program history and the only active Pac-12 player with 100 career blocks and 100 career threes.
In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletics accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in voting for the award.
A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 24 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling. The award was first established during the 2007-08 academic year.
ALSO NOMINATED: Annika Jank, Colorado; Aleah Goodman, Oregon State; Kiana Williams, Stanford; Lauryn Miller, UCLA; Alexis Grigsby, Washington; Krystal Leger-Walker, Washington State.