Oklahoma's Aaliyah Chavez Is the Only Underclassman on the Wade Trophy Watch List

Aaliyah Chavez is the only underclassman in the country on the Wade Trophy Watch List, and that tells you exactly where her game sits heading into Year 2.

The 15-player list came out Wednesday, and Chavez made it as a sophomore after one of the better freshman seasons Oklahoma has ever seen. The Wade Trophy goes to the top player in women’s college basketball, so this is not a nice local honor or a conference pat on the back.

This is national company. It also means Chavez is now on the watch list for every major national player of the year award before the meat of the season even starts.

She earned that the hard way last year. Chavez led Oklahoma at 18.4 points per game, added 4.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds, and led all true freshmen in the country in scoring. She ranked seventh in the SEC overall, made All-SEC second team, picked up WBCA All-America honorable mention, and walked away as the ESPN and CBS Sports National Freshman of the Year. That is a full haul for a first-year player, not a “nice debut” package.

The record book took a beating too.

Her 625 points were the second-most by a freshman in program history. She scored in double figures in 33 of 34 games and went over 20 points 12 times, more than any true freshman in the country. At the line she was ridiculous, setting an NCAA freshman record at 92.9 percent, matching Oklahoma’s single-season mark, and knocking down 62 free throws in a row for OU and SEC records. She also took home a league-record eight SEC Freshman of the Week awards. So when the Wade list came out and she was the only non-upperclassman on it, the surprise meter should have been pretty low.

The list itself is chosen by the WBCA NCAA Division I Awards Committee, with a midseason look coming later for possible additions before the winner is announced in April at the WBCA Convention in Columbus, site of the 2027 Final Four. Chavez is one of six SEC players on the board, the most of any conference. Oklahoma is also lined up to face nine of the other 14 candidates during the regular season, which means she will get plenty of nights to prove the preseason hype is real against the same people being mentioned with her.

Her season already started with a statement.

In Monday’s 91-79 win over No. 12 North Carolina in Paris, Chavez finished with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in 25 minutes. It was not her cleanest shooting night at 4-of-12 and 1-of-5 from three, and she had to deal with illness and early foul trouble after picking up three quick fouls. She still stayed useful. Five of six at the line, extended the double-figure scoring streak to 29 games, and did the connective work while LeeLee Bell and Sahara Williams handled the heavier scoring.

Jennie Baranczyk basically described the grown-up version of that night: maybe not pure volume, but enough resilience and playmaking to help Oklahoma control a ranked opener overseas.

That is the next step for Chavez.

The freshman year was about production and proving she belonged immediately. The sophomore year is about carrying that same gravity when defenses are more prepared and the nights get less clean. Being the only underclassman on the Wade list raises the standard, not the ceiling. The ceiling was already obvious.

Oklahoma is back home Sunday against Morgan State at 2 p.m., starting a stretch of six home games in 11 days.

For Chavez, the watch list is the national flash. The real work is still the same: run the team, fill up the stat sheet, and keep Oklahoma looking like a group that expects to matter deep into March.