Weiss Named to Becky Hammon Award Watch List
October 22, 2025
Originally Published for Columbia University HERE
NEW YORK – Columbia women's basketball junior guard Riley Weiss has been named to the watch list for the 2026 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats. The 25-player watch list was announced on Wednesday.
First given out in 2020, the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award recognizes the best mid-major player in Women's Division I college basketball. It is named for six-time WNBA All-Star Becky Hammon.
A two-time Ivy League champion, Weiss is coming off a sophomore season in which she averaged 17.8 points and shot 37.6 percent (96-255) from three-point range. She ranked No. 6 in Columbia single-season history for points scored (553) and No. 7 in points per game.
A native of nearby Hewlett, Long Island, Weiss was a three-time Ivy League Player of the Week who would go on to be named First Team All-Ivy League and First Team All-Met. She was also named to the USBWA National Player of the Year Midseason Watch List, twice named a USBWA National Player of the Week honoree, and twice named an AP National Player of the Week Honorable Mention. Her 2024-25 highlights included a career-high 34-point performance in a win at Princeton, as well as a game-high 24 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, to help Columbia erase a 13-point halftime deficit and defeat Washington in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament, 63-60.
Award Eligibility & Schedule
To be eligible for this award, players must compete in one of the 26 conferences deemed to be "mid-major." The following conferences are considered high-major for the purposes of this award and thus ineligible: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, and SEC. Additionally, players from Oregon State and Washington State remain ineligible this year.
The 15-player midseason watch list will be announced in January, followed by 10 semifinalists announced in February. The five finalists will be announced in early March, with the winner announced around the Final Four. The list is fluid, and players may play their way on or off it over the course of the season.
About Becky Hammon
Hammon was a three-time All-American at Colorado State and led the Rams to the Sweet 16 in 1999, the program's only appearance to date. She was signed by the New York Liberty in 1999 and traded to the San Antonio Stars in 2007, where she played the rest of her career. Hammon retired in 2014 as a six-time All-Star and a two-time All-WNBA First Team honoree. In 2016, she was named one of the top 20 players in WNBA history and was named to the W25 in 2021.
Hammon became the second female coach in NBA history when she began coaching for the San Antonio Spurs in 2014. Additionally, Hammon is the only woman to be a head coach in the NBA Summer League and the only woman to be a member of an NBA All-Star coaching staff. Currently, Hammon is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces and has won the 2022, 2023 and 2025 WNBA Championships.
