Women’s college basketball Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and All-Americans: our selections

JuJu Watkins or Lauren Betts? Mikayla Blakes or Sarah Strong? Let’s dive into the season awards for women’s college basketball.

Award season is here and it’s time to settle a few things regarding the 2024-25 women’s college basketball season.

Who has been the best player? Who has been the best coach? Who was the most impactful transfer? Which freshman stood out amongst the rest? Which team has been the biggest surprise, and which squad was the biggest disappointment?

Caitlin Clark was far and away the best player in the sport last season, but it has felt like a real debate this season. Likewise, the title of top rookie seems to be a two-player race. And Coach of the Year seems to be wide open.

Let’s break it down.

For the All-American teams, the Associated Press asks its voting body to submit three playable five-person teams. That doesn’t mean that each team needs two guards, two forwards and a center, but just a group of five players that could reasonably take the floor together.

Player of the Year: JuJu Watkins, USC

Watkins was second in the nation in scoring with 24.6 points per game this season and was sixth nationally in win shares with 6.5. As she led the Trojans to the regular season title and an appearance in the conference tournament championship game in the Big Ten, she improved her field goal percentage, ability to make 3-pointers, assists and blocks from a season ago. She’s a more efficient player on offense and an overall better defender. Watkins also had a knack for playing well in big games, like the Trojans’ pair of regular season wins over UCLA, and a December non-conference win at UConn. Watkins’ play down the stretch of the season helped USC capture its first conference title since 1994 and is likely to make the Trojans a No. 1 seed in March Madness for a second consecutive year – the first time that’s happened since Cheryl Miller was playing for USC.

Coach of the Year: Kenny Brooks, Kentucky

Kentucky won a total of six SEC games in the previous two seasons. Brooks came in from Virginia Tech, brought a talented guard and a promising center with him in Georgia Amoore and Clara Strack, and completely revamped the roster and culture around women’s basketball in Lexington. In Year One of Brooks’ tenure on the sideline at Kentucky, the Wildcats went 11-5 in SEC play – their best record since the 2018-19 season. The Wildcats earned a No. 4 seed into the SEC Tournament and will likely host opening weekend March Madness games in Lexington. And Brooks’ players continued to get better: Amoore, in her fifth season, posted career-bests in points, field goal percentage, assists and steals. With starting roles, Strack and North Carolina transfer Teonni Key had breakout seasons too. Brooks turning around a signature program like Kentucky in just one season is incredibly impressive and worthy of recognition.

Freshman of the Year: Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

This is going to seem like a controversial pick to some because Sarah Strong is totally worthy of this award too. But let’s consider for a moment the situations that each player finds themselves in: Strong plays for arguably the most iconic program in the sport alongside fellow No. 1 ranked recruits in Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, and other top 15 recruits and McDonald’s All-Americans in KK Arnold, Ice Brady and Ashlynn Shade. Strong has also played in the Big East – which is a two-bid league this season for the NCAA Tournament – where UConn won every game by at least 18 points.

Now, let’s consider Blakes. She plays for a team that’s been to the NCAA Tournament once since 2014 and she’s a big reason why the Commodores are going dancing this season with her 23.2 points per game, which is sixth nationally. She plays in the SEC, which will likely have 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament and six of them hosting among the top 16 seeds. Since 2009, Blakes is the only freshman to score more than 50 points in a single game twice in the same season and she’s the only player this century to have 55 points and five assists in a single game.

Without Strong, UConn is still winning the Big East comfortably. Without Blakes, Vanderbilt would find itself on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Simply put, Blakes was more important to her team’s success in a much deeper conference and put up her mightily impressive numbers against much tougher competition.

Most Impactful Transfer: Hailey Van Lith, TCU

With her pride damaged by getting hung out to dry by the LSU coaching staff in the Elite Eight game last year – the Tigers seemingly refused to put a different player on Caitlin Clark – Hailey Van Lith found a new home at TCU and began to rebuild herself. She posted a career-best field goal percentage, a career-high average in assists per game, and also averaged 17.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Van Lith then became the emotional leader and floor general for a Horned Frogs team that went 31-3 – its best record in program history – and won the Big 12 title for the first time ever. TCU has never been to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, but with Van Lith at point guard, they have a good chance of a deep March Madness run.

Biggest Surprise: Tennessee

I’m not sure how many folks thought that Kim Caldwell would be this successful this fast in Knoxville with previously just one season of Division I coaching under her belt. While the regular season and conference tournament slate ended with a bit of a thud for the Lady Vols – they’ve lost three of their last four games – Caldwell’s team embraced her preferred fast-paced style of play and posted their best winning percentage in four seasons. While she went .500 in SEC play, a signature victory over UConn in February looks like proof of concept for the Caldwell era in Knoxville. Entering March Madness, the Lady Vols are 11th in Her Hoop Stats Rating, second nationally in offensive rebounding, and second in points per game.

Biggest disappointment: Stanford

There were a lot of folks who believed that the Cardinal would keep on rolling in the 2024-25 season and continue to play like one of the best programs in the sport despite losing a WNBA Draft pick in Cameron Brink, a future WNBA Draft pick to the transfer portal in Kiki Iriafen, losing their Hall of Fame coach to retirement, and changing conferences from the Pac-12 to the ACC. While the Cardinal’s rival, Cal, had one of its best years while playing half of its conference games on the other side of the country, Stanford regressed. The Cardinal, under first-year head coach Kate Paye, were picked to finish seventh in the ACC in the preseason poll and even received a first-place vote. But the Cardinal went 16-14, their worst record since 1987. Stanford lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament to Clemson and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the Reagan Administration.

All-Americans

FIRST TEAM

G - JuJu Watkins, USC

G - Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame

G - Paige Bueckers, UConn

F - Lauren Betts, UCLA

F - Aneesah Morrow, LSU

SECOND TEAM

G - Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

G - Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State

G - Olivia Miles, Notre Dame

F - Sarah Strong, UConn

F - Madison Booker, Texas

THIRD TEAM

G - Katie Dinnebier, Drake

G - Aziaha James, N.C. State

G - Harmoni Turner, Harvard

F - Audi Crooks, Iowa State

F - Chloe Kitts, South Carolina

It’s close, but Morrow deserves the first team nod over Booker. Morrow leads the nation in rebounding, is seventh in win shares, and no player has more double-doubles than she does.

Blakes and Strong were not only the two best freshmen in the country, but among the 10 best players in all of women’s college basketball. They’re joined on the second team by Booker – the bus driver for a Texas team that will likely get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament – the nation’s leading scorer in Latson, and perhaps the game’s best true point guard in Olivia Miles, who had a bounce-back season after a knee injury sidelined her last year.

On the third team, Dinnebier leads the nation in assists and is eighth in scoring, and will be appointment viewing if Drake makes the NCAA Tournament. The same is true for a fellow mid-major star in Harmoni Turner, who is 13th nationally in scoring, 17th in steals and sixth in PER while powering the Crimson to a potential at-large bid. N.C. State won a share of the ACC regular season title and played in the conference championship this season and James’ play over the past month is a massive reason why. Crooks led the nation in field goals made and was 11th in PER. In the absences of Kamilla Cardoso and Ashlyn Watkins, Kitts has arguably been the most consistent front-court player for the best team in the country, South Carolina. Validating that point is her recent SEC Tournament MVP award.