ATLANTA - Dayton women's basketball senior Amber Deane has been named to the 2016 Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Early Season Watch List as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. This list includes 50 of the top players to watch in women's college basketball.

Deane currently leads the Flyers with 17.1 ppg. (2nd A-10) and 3.3 apg. and is Dayton's only current 1,000-point scorer. She was named the 2015 Atlantic 10 Sixth Woman of the Year and was voted onto the A-10 Preseason All-Conference Team prior to the 2015-16 season getting underway.

The Naismith Awards were founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to recognize accomplished athletes, coaches, officials and contributors to high school and college basketball. Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the creator of the game of basketball, the first Naismith trophy was awarded in 1969 to UCLA's Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The trophy was sculpted by Marty C. Dawe of Atlanta and has become among the most prestigious national honors awarded each year to top basketball players in the nation. The Women's Player of the Year Award was first given to Anne Donovan of Old Dominion University in 1983.

Each year the club's board publishes the "Naismith Watch" list that is made up of the top 50 players to watch in men's and women's college basketball. The organization also releases a list of 30 mid-season Naismith candidates. At the end of the season the Naismith Trophy is awarded to the player of the year in men's and women's college basketball. A national voting academy of leading basketball coaches, administrators and journalists narrows the group down to four finalists based on player performance throughout the season. The final four Naismith finalists will make up the ballot and the player of the year is voted on by the group.