Fankam Mendjiadeu has been dominant during the 2022-23 season and is one of the nation’s top post players.
TAMPA (Jan. 11, 2023) – University of South Florida women’s basketball standout Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu has been named to the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year midseason watch list, the organization announced on Wednesday.
The USBWA’s list highlights 21 outstanding women’s players from seven different conferences. Fankam Mendjiadeu is the lone representative from the American Athletic Conference.
Click here for the official USBWA release.
A Preseason American Athletic Conference First Team All-Conference selection, Fankam Mendjiadeu is in the midst of the best season of her collegiate career. The 6-foot-4 forward/center from Nkongsamba, Cameroon, is averaging 16.5 points per game on the year and 11.8 rebounds per contest, good enough for first in The American and seventh nationally. In addition, her 212 rebounds on the year are also tops in the conference and third nationally.
Offensively, Fankam Mendjiadeu is shooting 58.3 percent (116-for-199) from the field and 73.9 percent )65-for-88) from the free-throw line on the year. She has recorded 12 double-doubles this season which is first in The American and third in the nation.
Fankam Mendjiadeu has proven to be one of the top post players in the nation and has done so against some of the nation’s top teams. She recorded a career-high 34 points, on 73.3 percent shooting from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line, while also grabbing 17 rebounds against No. 3/4 Ohio State in the first round of the San Diego Invitational, and followed that up the next day with a 16-point, 12-rebound performance against No. 17/19 Arkansas.
The redshirt senior also turned in a 13-point, 10-rebound and two-blocked shot performance at No. 22/18 Texas, and a 10-point, 18-rebound and two-block outing at No. 8/10 NC State.
During the Gulf Coast Showcase in Ft. Myers, Fla., Fankam Mendjiadeu broke a nine-year tournament rebounding record, hauling down 49 boards in the three games. She grabbed a career-best 21 rebounds along with scoring 19 points against Georgia Tech and followed that game up with 11 rebounds and eight points against No. 22/23 Michigan and 17 rebounds and 14 points against No. 23/RV Villanova.
The winner of the 2022-23 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will announced at the Final Four in Dallas and formally recognized at the USBWA’s College Basketball Awards on Monday, April 10 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis. She will be joined in St. Louis by the Oscar Robertson Trophy winner as the men’s national player of the year. The women’s and men’s national coaches of the year and the two national freshman players of the year will be honored as well, the winners of the Wayman Tisdale Award and Tamika Catchings Award.
The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is presented annually to the women’s national player of the year by the USBWA. Named for the legendary UCLA guard, the award was first presented in the 1987-88 season and formally named in Meyers Drysdale’s honor in the 2011-12 season. Ann Meyers Drysdale played at UCLA from 1974-78, which pre-dates the USBWA All-America selections. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
The Bulls return to the Yuengling Center to start a three-game in a four-game stretch beginning tonight with Memphis (7 p.m., ESPN+) for the first of back-to-back home games. South Florida will follow up its game against the Tigers by hosting Tulane, for the second meeting since Dec. 30. Game time is at 7 p.m.
2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Player of the Year Candidates
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Cameron Brink, Stanford
Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Zia Cooke, South Carolina
Monika Czinano, Iowa
Aaliyah Edwards, UConn
Dulcy Fankam Mendijadeu, South Florida
Azzi Fudd, UConn
Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
Haley Jones, Stanford
Elizabeth Kitley, Virginia Tech
Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State
Olivia Miles, Notre Dame
Diamond Miller, Maryland
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul
Nika Mühl, UConn
Charisma Osborne, UCLA
Alissa Pili, Utah
Angel Reese, LSU
Maddie Siegrist, Villanova
Keishana Washington, Drexel
About USF Women’s Basketball
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South Florida recorded its 10th 20-win season during the 2021-22 campaign while playing in its sixth American Athletic Conference championship game in its nine years in the conference. The Bulls achieved their highest national ranking of the season when it checked in at No. 13 in the Nov. 30 Associated Press Top 25 Poll, and advanced to their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance in the last nine years.
USF has made 17 postseason tournament appearances and had eight NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 22 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to 10 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship, and has won over 400 career games. Fernandez was named a finalist for the WBCA and semifinalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Awards. He was also tabbed the 2021 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign.
In 2021-22, the Bulls had three players recognized by The American for impressive seasons, including Elena Tsineke (All-Conference First Team), Bethy Mununga (All-Conference Second Team) and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (All-Conference Second Team).
In addition, Tsineke and Mununga were named to the American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team.
–#GoBulls –
