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Charlie CremeESPN.com
The debate raged over whether Paige Bueckers of UConn or Caitlin Clark of Iowa should be the national freshman of the year.
We included both – and a total of 10 players – in ESPN.com 2020-21 women’s college basketball, first and second American teams.
All 10 players, from Aliyah Boston of South Carolina to NaLyssa Smith of Baylor, have already gained enough hardware for their performances this season, and each must lead their teams in the NCAA women’s tournament. They are must-see players in March Madness.
First team
G Dana Evans
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Louisville Cardinals | 5 feet-6 | Senior
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2020-21 Statistics: 20.0 PPG, 4.2 APG, free throw percentage 92.0
Former ACC the sixth player of the year and now twice the best player of the year, Evans saved her best season for the last. She led ACC in scoring and earned her reputation as a fearless clutch player with heroism in the fourth quarter against teams like Miami, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
G Paige Bueckers
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UConn Huskies | 5 feet-11 | freshman
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2020-21 Statistics: 19.7 PPG, 6.1 APG, 53.9% field goal
It has been a few years since a player entered college and conquered the country as quickly as Bueckers did. With three consecutive 30-point games, a 3-point clutch in the final minute against Tennessee and UConn’s 13 final points in an overtime victory over South Carolina, Bueckers has already achieved a career worthy of remarkable moments. She led Big East in assists, was fourth in scoring and finished in the top five of six other statistical categories. According to ESPN Stats & Information, and assuming that UConn is the No. 1 seed on Monday, Bueckers will become the sixth freshman since 2000 to lead the No. 1 seed in scoring when entering the NCAA tournament. None of the others managed to lead their teams to the title. Will Bueckers be the first?
C Elissa Cunane
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NC State Wolfpack | 6 feet-5 | junior
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2020-21 Statistics: 16.8 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 57.0 percentage of field goal
While Cunane finished fifth in ACC in scoring, third in percentage of pitches and ninth in rebounds, his value for Wolfpack goes far beyond the numbers. She is the center and centerpiece of her attack, with passing and decision-making skills atypical for a player of her size. As Cunane emerged as one of the best players in the country, NC State became one of his elite teams.
F NaLyssa Smith
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Baylor Bears | 6 feet-2 | junior
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2020-21 Statistics: 18.0 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 54.1 percentage of field goal
Perhaps needing some time to adjust to his new role as Baylor’s main offensive option, Smith appears to be picking up his pace in the final weeks of the regular season. Both his score and the percentage of pitches have improved since mid-January. A unique combination of pure power and athleticism, Smith is equally striking on the block, as she is finishing on the track in the transition.
F Aliyah Boston
The SEC tournament illustrated how talented an offensive Boston player can be and how good she is in South Carolina when those skills are on display. She averaged less than 13 points in the regular season, but averaged 19.3 PPG in three SEC tournament games, as the Gamecocks won their sixth SEC tournament title in seven years, the last two with Boston in the middle. She also led the SEC in blocked shots and just won her second defensive player title of the year at the conference.
Second team
G Caitlin Clark
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Iowa Hawkeyes | 6 feet | freshman
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2020-21 Statistics: 27.4 PPG, 7.0 APG, 41.6 3-point field goal percentage
If it weren’t for Bueckers, Clark would be the runaway choice for all national freshman honors of the year. The numbers are impressive. She is Division I’s scoring leader, and her PPG of 27.4 is on track to be the highest scoring average for a freshman in the past 35 years. Clark, who scored a triple-double in his sixth game in college, has 11 games of 30 points, the maximum for a freshman in the past 20 years. For comparison, Elena Delle Donne is the only freshman DI in this millennium to average at least 25 points per game (26.7 PPG in 2009-10), and Delle Donne had eight games of 30 points in her first season . If Clark ends up as the nation’s scoring leader, she will become only the second freshman DI to lead women’s college basketball on points per game for an entire season (Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio averaged 24.9 PPG in 2014- 15).
G Aari McDonald
One of the best two-way players in the history of Pac-12, McDonald led the league in goals and steals for the third consecutive season, and won his second consecutive defensive player of the year award at the conference. She has been the centerpiece of the Wildcats’ turnaround and enters the NCAA tournament with double-digit scores in 87 consecutive games.
G Ashley Owusu
She went from one of the ten biggest freshmen of the year to one of the best players in the league and is the conductor of the attack with the highest score in the country and a rotation that reached only seven players most of the season. Owusu took on more scoring responsibility with his power play as a point guard, finishing fourth in the Big Ten in points per game and second in assists for a team that is building a 10-game winning streak in the Big Ten tournament and lost only once since the last week of November.
F Rhyne Howard
With a combination of size, ball handling skills and shooting range unlike most players, Howard remains one of the most versatile players in the country. But her average score has dropped by almost three points per game, and she is unlikely to win the national player of the year award, for which she was a favorite in the preseason. Still, Howard’s statistics in several other categories (assists, rebounds, percentage of field goals) improved and Howard won the SEC’s second consecutive player of the year award.
F Natasha Mack
The Cowgirls were chosen to finish eighth on the Big 12 this season and, instead, won the 13 best games from the program’s conference. Mack was the main reason. The former college player of the year instantly became one of Division I’s most productive offensive players after her arrival in Stillwater. She leads the country in blocked shots per game, after finishing sixth place a year ago, and is eighth in rebounds (third last season), adding almost 20 points per game.
Also considered: Charli Collier, Texas; Naz Hillmon, Michigan; Haley Jones, Stanford; Michaela Onyenwere, UCLA