Tina Langley's backcourt headliners are both on the Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year watchlist, released Thursday.

Washington guards Sayvia Sellers and Avery Howell both made the 50-woman watchlist, one of 12 sets of teammates to be featured on the list. Sellers and Howell were also the Huskies' representatives at Big Ten Media Day earlier this month and are expected to be the top two contributors for a Washington squad with real NCAA Tournament aspirations entering Langley's sixth season at the helm.

It's the second preseason watchlist of the week for Howell, who also landed on the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watchlist as one of the best shooting guards in the country. The third-year guard was an All-Big Ten honorable mention last season after averaging 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 43.6 percent from three-point range. Howell was also the first guard to lead the Big Ten in defensive rebounds, with 7.8 per game, since the 2022-23 season.

Sellers was the only Husky to outscore Howell last season, averaging 18 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.9 rebounds while also finishing second on the team with 25 blocks despite her 5-foot-7 stature. She was recognized as a regional finalist for the WBCA Coaches' All-America Team and made the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year Late-Season Team, the first Huskies basketball player to do either since Kelsey Plum. Sellers, now a fourth-year, also earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team and scored 594 points last year, the eighth-most in a single season in program history.

With both women and second-year forward Brynn McGaughy, a former five-star recruit and Big Ten All-Freshman selection last season, returning to Montlake, Langley's team would already be expected to make some noise in March. The Huskies also went out and signed 6-foot-6 third-year center Tilda Trygger, a former ACC All-Freshman honoree, from North Carolina State, 17-point scorer Brooke Carlson from Colorado State, former five-star forward Kaelyn Carroll from Kentucky, and sharpshooter Macey Huard from Oklahoma State to build out the roster and take a team that won a tournament game to the next level.

Washington enters the season ranked No. 16 in the preseason AP poll, which would give them the final right to host an NCAA Tournament regional. It's a brutal schedule, however, with 12 Big Ten foes joining Sellers and Howell on Thursday's watchlist. Four teams - No. 3 USC, led by the returning JuJu Watkins, No. 5 Michigan, No. 10 Iowa, and No. 11 UCLA - in the conference are ranked ahead of the Huskies and another four - No. 17 Minnesota, No. 18 Ohio State, No. 20 Maryland, and No. 23 Illinois - are right behind them. Only Minnesota did not have at least one player on the national watchlist released Thursday, but Nebraska, who received the most votes of an unranked team, has third-year guard Britt Prince on the list. Prince hit a three with seven seconds remaining in Alaska Airlines Arena in February to take down the Huskies, 66-65.

The Huskies start their season on Monday against UC San Diego at 11:00 a.m. PT in Alaska Airlines Arena.