SAN FRANCISCO – In a vote of the the league's 12 head coaches, Stanford's Haley Jones has been chosen the 2021-22 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Player of the Year; teammate Cameron Brink was voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year; Utah's Gianna Kneepkens was selected the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year; Colorado's Quay Miller earned Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year honors; USC's Jordyn Jenkins and Washington State's Bella Murekatete were picked as Pac-12 Co-Most Improved Players of the Year; and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer claimed John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year accolades.

In addition to the major awards, the conference's 15-member All-Pac-12 team and the league's five-person All-Defensive and All-Freshman teams were named in advance of the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament, which begins Wednesday, March 2 at Mandalay Bay's Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.

The conference-record 19th Pac-12 Player of the Year from Stanford, Jones is the first Cardinal to win the honor since Chiney Ogwumike in 2013-14. Eleventh in the league in scoring (12.5), second in rebounding (7.9) and fifth in assists (3.6), the 2021 Final Four Most Outstanding Player is one of three Power 5 players in the country averaging those numbers this season (Caitlin Clark – Iowa; Jordan Horston – Tennessee). She has scored in double figures in 18 games and put together eight double-doubles, including the conference’s 54th all-time triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists against Portland on Nov. 16. Among a number of big performances, Jones put up 18 points, 19 rebounds and six assists in a victory over No. 7 Tennessee in Knoxville on Dec. 18, joining Ogwumike as the only Division I players this century with that line in an AP top-10 matchup on the road.

Stanford's second consecutive Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and sixth overall, Brink has been a menace on both ends of the floor. She's 18th nationally in blocked shots per game (2.37) and has 152 total rejections in 59 career games, already good for eighth in the Cardinal record book. Brink also tops the league in rebounding, pulling down 8.2 boards per game, and had a 22-rebound performance against No. 4 Indiana in November, the highest single-game total in the conference in three seasons. In that victory over Hoosiers, Brink also added 21 points, five assists and five blocks to put together just the third 20-point, 20-rebound, five-assist, five-block performance in women’s college basketball since 1999-2000 and the first against a ranked team.

A double-digit scorer in all but two of Utah's 15 conference games this season, Kneepkens is the second from Utah to win Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors. The Duluth, Minnesota native is averaging 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per outing during her debut season and has been even better against top-25 opponents, putting up 14.3 points on 49.2 percent shooting, including a 37.5 percent mark from deep, against ranked foes. Among her three 20-point performances this season, Kneepkens poured in 29 points off the bench against No. 21 BYU on Dec. 4, which is tied for the ninth-best scoring output for a Pac-12 player off the bench since 1999-00. She moved into the starting lineup following that performance, which garnered her her first of five Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards this season.

The first Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year from Colorado in the fourth year of the award, Miller has averaged 11.3 points on 51.8 percent shooting and 4.6 rebounds per game in her 27 appearances off the bench this season. Among Power 5 players with at least 10 appearances off the bench, Miller's scoring average (11.3) as a substitute is seventh nationally and she is one of only two to average in double figures while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor (Audrey Warren - Texas). Sixteenth in the league in scoring, 18th in rebounding and seventh in field goal percentage, Miller has scored in double figures 15 times, including two 20-point efforts, and had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double against USC on Jan. 7.

One of two winners of the inaugural Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year award, Jenkins has more than doubled her scoring output from her freshman season, going from 6.3 points per game in 2020-21, to a team-high 15.2 points per game in 2021-22. Third in the conference and 39th nationally in field goal percentage (.530), the sophomore is also 10th in the league in rebounding (6.7) and dishes out 1.5 assists after accounting for just 0.2 per outing a season ago. Jenkins has upped her game in Pac-12 play, bumping up her averages to 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds. She's collected six double-doubles this season with five coming against conference opponents, has scored in double figures in her last 16 games and has poured in at least 20 in four of her past seven.

Murekatete, the first known Rwandan-born player in women's college basketball, has made remarkable strides this season, posting career-high averages of 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game. Entering the year, the 6-foot-3 center averaged 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds through her first 53 career contests. She is fourth in the conference in blocks, seventh in rebounds, and has pulled down 10+ boards five times, including a career-best 15 against Northern Arizona on Nov. 12. Murekatete has scored in double figures in 16 of her 28 games this season and opened the year with a career-high 22 points against San Jose State.

The winningest coach in women's college basketball history, VanDerveer was chosen by her peers as the John R. Wooden Coach of the Year for the 17th time in 36 seasons of Pac-12 women's basketball and second year in a row. Ranked No. 2 nationally and owners of the nation's longest active winning streak (17), VanDerveer guided the Cardinal to its second consecutive and 25th overall Pac-12 regular-season title in 2022. Stanford went unbeaten in Pac-12 play for the eighth time (16-0, 1.000) and first since 2012 to secure the top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament for the 15th time. The defending national champions have won 31 consecutive games against Pac-12 opponents, including the postseason, which is the third-longest active streak in the country (Princeton, Ivy - 37; Jackson State, SWAC - 31).

ALL-PAC-12

** two-time selection; *** three-time selection

Honorable Mention: Jayda Curry, CAL; Krystal Leger-Walker, WSU; Kennady McQueen, UTAH; Quay Miller, COLO; Nancy Mulkey, WASH; Jordan Sanders, USC; Sam Thomas, ARIZ; Haley Van Dyke, WASH.

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

** two-time selection; *** three-time selection

Honorable Mention: Taya Corosdale, OSU; Mael Gilles, ASU; Krystal Leger-Walker, WSU; Rayah Marshall, USC; Leilani McIntosh, CAL; Nancy Mulkey, WASH; Charisma Osborne, UCLA; Helena Pueyo, ARIZ; Jordan Sanders, USC; Maddie Scherr, ORE; Haley Van Dyke, WASH.

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

Honorable Mention: Izzy Anstey, UCLA; Kiki Iriafen, STAN; Greta Kampschroeder, OSU.