Last season, two worthy candidates vied for the women’s basketball player of the year award. Debates raged. Coaches subtly and arguably passive-aggressively (and sometimes not so subtly) noted how their player was better than the other.
Expect the same arguments to play out this season between the same two players.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark was a dynamic scorer whose frequent highlight-reel moments — you remember those logo 3s — captured national attention. She became the first player in women’s history to lead the nation in scoring and assists last season. She won the Dawn Staley Guard of the Year Award for a second straight season and was named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year. But the national Player of the Year awards, including The Athletic’s, went to South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston.
Boston made a strong enough case for herself last year to edge out Clark with her dominant play on offense and defense, advanced analytics proving her effectiveness and, obviously, her ability to make South Carolina a national champion.
Our experts are almost split on the decision, and the voting total was a one-point difference between them. Clark and Boston were the only two players to receive first-place votes.
Clark added more skills to her game and will be playing with a…
