Women's Wooden Award Odds 2024: Iowa's Caitlin Clark Favorite to Win 2nd Straight

sportsbookreview.com

03 January 2024

Women's Wooden Award Odds 2024: Iowa's Caitlin Clark Favorite to Win 2nd Straight

Caitlin Clark is the betting favorite to win the 2024 Women's Wooden Award after taking home the honors in 2022-23, and the Iowa Hawkeyes star is pulling away from the field according to the latestcollege basketball odds.

Caitlin Clark has already etched her name in women's basketball history, winning the Wooden Award in 2022-23 and leading the Iowa Hawkeyes to their first-ever national championship appearance. She's on the verge of even further cementing her legacy as one of the all-time greats in college basketball with a second straight honor as the best player in her sport.

The sharpshooting senior is the runaway favorite to win the 2024 Wooden Award, according to the latest March Madness betting sites, dealing anywhere from -140 to -175 to take home the trophy for the second straight year to cap her decorated collegiate career.

If she does, she'd join Seimone Augustus (LSU), Candace Parker (Tennessee), Maya Moore (Connecticut), Brittney Griner (Baylor), Breanna Stewart (Connecticut), and Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) as the only players to win the award multiple times. All six of those players went No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft, which is also the expectation for Clark in 2024.

In conjunction with our Women's March Madness odds, here is our look at the best 2024 Women's Wooden Award odds (odds via our best sports betting apps) and Clark's chances of winning the award for a second time:

Women's Wooden Award odds 2024

(Odds as of Jan. 2)

Women's Wooden Award betting analysis

Only two of our best sports betting sites are listing odds for the Wooden Award, but both are in agreement: Caitlin Clark is the runaway favorite.

The Iowa Hawkeyes star is dealing at -140 at DraftKings, which offers a better price than bet365 on four of the top six contenders in this market, including Clark and 2021 Wooden Award winner Paige Bueckers.

That said, bet365 is hanging odds on a few players that aren't offered at DraftKings, so it's worth shopping around and checking out our best sportsbook promos to make sure you're grabbing the best number in this market.

Women's Wooden Award odds movement

Clark opened as a +100 favorite at DraftKings, and her price has only shortened through the first two months of the college basketball season. Entering 2024, Clark is dealing as short as -175 at bet365, one of two of our best sportsbooks offering odds to win the Wooden Award.

Her early-season dominance has been reflected in the lengthening prices of preseason contenders Bueckers (UConn) and Angel Reese (LSU), who were each dealing at shorter than +400 odds entering the season. That said, Stanford's Cameron Brink opened at 30/1 and is now trading at +600.

Women's Wooden Award favorite 2024

Let's be honest: if Clark stays healthy the rest of the year, she's almost certainly winning her second straight Wooden Award.

The Hawkeyes star is already off to a ridiculous start to this season, one that rivals her award-winning campaign last year. Entering 2024, Clark leads the nation in scoring (30.9 PPG) and ranks fourth in assists (7.6 APG) while pacing the field in made threes (68) on a sizzling 40.2% from deep.

Clark underscored why she's such a threat to win this award in her final game of 2023, when she rewrote the record books in more ways than one. In a blowout win over Minnesota, the senior guard set the Big Ten's all-time assists record (904), moved into fifth place on the Division I career scoring list (3,149 points), and became the first player in men's or women's hoops with 3,000 points, 900 assists, and 800 rebounds in their collegiate career.

It all adds up to an overwhelming case for the presumptive No. 1 pick in April's WNBA draft, who is also on pace to surpass Kelsey Plum (3,527 points) as the sport's all-time leading scorer by the end of this season. It would take a shocking development to derail Clark's candidacy, and I'm not sure the odds yet reflect that.

Women's Wooden Award odds 2024: Contender

In a world without Clark, Watkins would be the nation's leading scorer for a rising contender in USC, which entered the year ranked outside the top 20 but has risen up the polls behind Watkins' scoring brilliance.

The No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023 wasn't even listed as an option for this award entering the season, but she's vaulted up the oddsboard after averaging 26.8 points through her first 10 games. She's also shooting a torrid 45.5% from 3-point range, even better than Clark, while leading her team in assists (3.7 APG) and ranking second in rebounds (7.3 RPG).

Her all-around efforts have been crucial for the Trojans, who started 10-0 and reached their highest ranking (No. 6) since 1994 behind their freshman star. Even after the loss to No. 2 UCLA - which saw Watkins lead all players with 27 points - USC is still ranked in the top 10 and has a chance to play spoiler in a conference long dominated by Stanford.

Watkins is listed as the second option with +550 odds at bet365, but she's still dealing at +1500 via DraftKings. If Watkins keeps up her stellar play into January and February, the latter price won't last long.

She already has the support of several high-profile NBA stars, according to Thuk Nhi Nguyen of the LA Times.

Women's Wooden Award odds 2024: Long shot

As we mentioned before, this isn't the best market to bet a long shot given Clark's stranglehold on the top spot and the relative name recognition for the other top contenders in this market.

That said, Hidalgo is putting together a compelling long-shot case for this award if the top names in this market fall by the wayside. The Notre Dame star ranks third in scoring (24.5 PPG) behind Clark and Watkins and sits at 17th in assists (6.2 APG) - one of just five players ranked in the top 40 in both categories entering 2024.

Much like Watkins, Hidalgo entered 2023 as a top-five recruit. She announced herself from the jump, scoring 31 points in a season-opening loss to No. 1 South Carolina. She scored 32 points in her final game of 2023, adding seven steals in a narrow loss to No. 25 Syracuse.

That last bit is where Hidalgo's case gets particularly interesting. The freshman phenom has been a menace on the defensive end, leading the nation in steals (6.1) by a country mile. She's recorded at least six steals in seven of her first 11 career games, helping Notre Dame rank fifth in that metric (13.6 SPG) as a group.

The Fighting Irish entered the year as a top-10 team and have only lost those two games to ranked opponents, both of which saw Hidalgo's star shine bright. She's still a clear long shot in this market - she isn't even listed as an option at bet365 - but if Notre Dame is in the mix for a top-two seed by season's end, Hidalgo will be in the mix for the Wooden Award, too.

Women's Wooden Award odds 2024: Fade

I get why Reese is dealing at such short odds to win this award, as she remains one of the faces of women's basketball after cutting down the nets in 2023. But she certainly isn't worth betting at this price.

It's been an eventful start to the season for LSU's star forward, who was benched at halftime in a "coach's decision" on Nov. 14 before missing the next four games for what Reese cited as mental health reasons. The Tigers continued to roll without her, though she's put up numbers in her return.

Still, Reese is averaging fewer points (19.6), rebounds (11.0), assists (1.9), and blocks (0.6) than she did last season, when her robust stat line still wasn't enough to win this award. Her talent would make her an intriguing play at longer odds, but at such a short price, this is a obvious pass.

Recent Women's Wooden Award winners

March Madness betting odds pages

Women's Wooden Award FAQs

Who is the Women's Wooden Award favorite?

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark is the betting favorite to win the Wooden Award for the second time in her career, having already won it in 2022-23.