NCAA women’s anonymous coaches poll: Is anyone but Caitlin Clark a POY contender? Who’s Freshman of the Year?

In Thursday’s anonymous poll, coaches debated about where Iowa star Caitlin Clark ranked among women’s college basketball’s all-time greats. Clark has etched her name all over Iowa’s and the NCAA’s offensive record books, scoring more than 3,700 points heading into her final weeks as a college athlete.

This season, as the Hawkeyes amassed a 29-4 record en route to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, she averaged a nation-leading 31.9 points and 8.9 assists per game. According to CBB Reference, she also led the nation in win-shares.

Over the last month, The Athletic interviewed more than 35 head coaches across women’s basketball to collect their candid opinions on an array of topics from the changing tides in the sport to the best coaches in the game. These coaches, who work at power conferences and high mid-majors, were granted anonymity so they could speak openly without fear of retribution from their own programs or the NCAA.

In our fourth and final installment of our anonymous coaches poll series, coaches weighed in on who’s the best player this season, the top freshman and who stood out on defense. Coaches couldn’t pick a player on their roster (some abstained).

One notable award — you can guess which — had a unanimous winner. Others were more…