With the regular season in the rearview, The Athletic’s team of dedicated writers and contributors got together to take stock of everything they’ve witnessed since November and made some tough decisions about the best of the best in an impressive year of hoops. Some of their preseason predictions came true as four preseason All-America members were also on the season-end first-team.
But two big surprises they didn’t see coming? Two freshmen who have been steadying forces on their respective teams and played their way onto the second team in a very deep year in women’s college hoops.
The committee — Chantel Jennings, Sabreena Merchant, Ben Pickman, Zena Keita and Mark Schindler — each ranked their top 10 players, and totals were tallied to determine this season’s year-end accolades.
(Stats as of March 2)
First team
| Player | Program |
|---|---|
|
JuJu Watkins |
USC |
|
Lauren Betts |
UCLA |
|
Hannah Hidalgo |
Notre Dame |
|
Madison Booker |
Texas |
|
Ta’Niya Latson |
Florida State |
JuJu Watkins, USC
Sophomore wing
Stats: 27.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.3 spg, 1.6 bpg
The fact that the race for national player of the year was undecided until the penultimate day of the season, and that finally — on the last day — the choice became unanimously Watkins, says a lot about the sophomore’s ability to…
