Parker wins Wooden Award for second consecutive year

LOS ANGELES — It keeps on getting better for Tennessee All-American Candace Parker.

Parker, who led the Lady Vols to their second-straight national championship on Tuesday, won John R. Wooden Award as college basketball’s top player for the second straight year.

North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough won the men’s award.

Parker’s coach Pat Summit, whose title on Tuesday was her eighth, won the Legends of Coaching Award.

More than 1,000 national media and college basketball experts cast votes based on players’ regular and postseason performances, character and academic performance. Unlike most player of the year awards, votes could be cast as late as the NCAA tournament’s regional round.

Parker’s win capped off a huge week for the 6-foot-4 junior.

She was already in Los Angeles where she was introduced Friday by the L.A. Sparks, who made her the No. 1 pick in Wednesday’s WNBA draft.

The awards are named for the former UCLA coach who guided the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span before retiring in 1975.

For the third time since the inception of the award, Wooden didn’t attend the ceremony. The Wooden family announced in August 2005 that he would no longer participate because of a trademark dispute concerning the use of his name.