LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior point guard S’Mya Nichols received her second preseason honor of the week Thursday, claiming a spot on the 2026-27 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s Player of the Year Watch List.
Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the creator of the game of basketball, the Naismith Women's Basketball Player of the Year award has been presented since 1983 and is given each year to the top basketball player in the nation. Each year the club's board publishes the Naismith Award Watch List that is made up of the top 50 players to watch in women's college basketball.
Nichols earns a spot on the Naismith Trophy Watch List for the third consecutive season, and her inclusion gives Kansas a player on the watch list in each of the past four seasons after Taiyanna Jackson was listed in 2023. Prior to 2023, Kansas had not had a player on the Naismith Award Watch List since Chelsea Gardner in 2014.
This is the second watch list selection for Nichols, who was announced as one of 20 preseason nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Watch List on Monday. She was also a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Big 12 Women’s Basketball team, earning a spot on the team for the third time and her second consecutive unanimous selection.
A native of Overland Park, Kansas, and product of Shawnee Mission West HS, Nichols enters her senior season as KU's all-time leader in free throws made (627), while ranking third in both career free throw (83.8) and three-point (40.5) percentage. She is also ranked seventh in school history with 397 assists and No. 10 with 1,693 career points.
Nichols averaged 17.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game last season. She also led the nation in free throw shooting, hitting 243-of-287 (84.7 percent) attempts, breaking her own single-season school record of 218 made free throws from her sophomore campaign. Nichols scored in double figures 32 times in 36 games, with 13 games of 20 or more points, including a career-high 40 points vs. Georgia on Nov. 28 at the Fort Myers Tipoff.
A two-time WBCA All-America Honorable Mention honoree, Nichols has earned All-Big 12 First Team honors after each of her first three seasons at Kansas, joining Lynn Pride (1998, 1999, 2000) as the Jayhawks' only three-time first team honorees. Last season, Nichols was twice named to the Big 12 Starting Five (Dec. 1, Dec. 8) after earning preseason spots on the Lieberman Award, Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award Watch Lists.
Nichols is one of eight players from the Big 12 on the Naismith Award Watch List, joined by Gia Cooke (West Virginia), Audi Crooks (Oklahoma State), Delaney Gibb (BYU), Liv McGill (Oklahoma State), Taliah Scott (Baylor), Clara Silva (TCU) and Zyanna Walker (Colorado).