This preseason, we predicted the women’s basketball player of the year would again be a two-woman race. We were right.
The who’s-better debate has been a conversation throughout the season: South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston or Iowa’s Caitlin Clark?
Boston won this award the previous two seasons; this year, it’s Clark’s turn. Our experts at The Athletic struggled to decipher which player held the edge, yet Clark received all but one of our first-place votes. Her prolific scoring, her worth to the Hawkeyes and her improvement were deciding factors that led to Clark as our winner.
Player of the Year
| Rank | Player | Team | First-place votes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Caitlin Clark |
5 |
|
|
2 |
Aliyah Boston |
1 |
|
|
3 |
Mackenzie Holmes |
||
|
3 |
Angel Reese |
||
|
3 |
Maddy Siegrist |
Our experts voted on their top three players with points assigned to each pick.
How our experts voted and why:
Chantel Jennings
1. Clark
2. Boston
3. Holmes
I am not a believer in participation trophies, but I desperately wish we could double up on the award this season. In any other season, Boston would be my pick. But it just so happens that this season, Clark has been lighting the Big Ten on fire, and I believe the Big Ten is the best conference in the country. Both players have had defenses completely sell out on them, and both have excelled….
