Women's College Basketball

South Carolina star Aliyah Boston leads the list of semifinalists for the Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year award. 

Boston is the leading scorer for the No. 1 team in the country, with 16.8 points per game, but her defensive prowess has also been key for the Gamecocks. The forward is averaging 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.1 steals per game as one of the top overall players in women's college basketball. 

She was also named on the midseason list for the Women's Player of the Year award alongside fellow top candidate Caitlin Clark of Iowa.

"She's a generational player," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said of Boston. "I don't think we talk enough about her in those terms."

There will still be plenty of competition for the Defensive Player of the Year award, with six different conferences represented among the 10 semifinalists.

Tennessee center Tamari Key ranks second in college basketball with an average of 3.7 blocks per game, using her 6'6" frame to dominate in the paint. Key reached double-digit blocks in three different games this season, including last week's loss to South Carolina. 

In November, Key had 10 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocks in an overtime win over Texas.

Northwestern guard Veronica Burton leads the country with 4.1 steals per game and is closing in on 400 steals in her career (388 entering Monday). The senior has averages of 17.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds this season as she almost single-handedly keeps the Wildcats' postseason hopes alive.

Sophomore Angel Reese is one of the youngest players on the list, but she is worthy of attention after leading Maryland in points, rebounds and blocks per game this year.

The winner of this award will be named on April 1.    

UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers made her long-awaited return to the court Friday in a 93-38 home win over St. John's.

Bueckers came off the bench and scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in 12 minutes. She added two rebounds and one assist on a turnover-free night.

The 2021 national consensus player of the year suffered an anterior tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear to her left knee against Notre Dame on Dec. 5.

Prior to her injury, the guard averaged 21.2 points on 56.3 percent shooting, 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds in 36.2 minutes over six games.

On Friday, Bueckers substituted in with 3:41 left in the first quarter. She closed the frame with a buzzer-beating shot.

She played four more minutes in the second quarter and found Aaliyah Edwards with a smooth bounce pass for two:

Buckers later hit a running one-hander with 20 seconds remaining in the half:

She checked back in with 4:56 left in the third quarter and kept making an impact, including with this transition bucket off a pass from Dorka Juhasz:

Bueckers played the remainder of the third quarter before sitting out the fourth.

The No. 7 Huskies improved to 21-5 (15-1 Big East) with the victory.

Freshman guard Azzi Fudd scored 19 points (5-of-7 three-point shooting), and Edwards added 16 points and seven rebounds. Evina Westbrook didn't take a shot, but she didn't need to score to make an impact en route to 10 assists and seven boards.

The Huskies will play Providence at home Sunday before the Big East tournament begins March 4 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. UConn will be the No. 1 seed.

UConn women's basketball superstar point guard Paige Bueckers will return to the court Friday when the Huskies host St. John's.

ESPN's Alexa Philippou relayed the news:

Bueckers suffered an anterior tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear to her left knee during a 73-54 win over Notre Dame on Dec. 5. She underwent surgery on Dec. 13, and UConn said then that her expected recovery time was eight weeks.

Bueckers went through warmups prior to UConn's 69-38 win over Marquette on Wednesday, per Daniel Connolly of The UConn Blog:

And now it looks like she'll be good to go when the Red Storm roll into Storrs on Friday.

The sophomore averaged 21.2 points (56.3 percent shooting), 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.7 steals in six games this year.

Bueckers' first season at UConn ended with her winning the AP Player of the Year, the Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Nancy Lieberman Award and the John R. Wooden award, among other accolades. She was also named a unanimous first-team All-American. The Huskies ended up making the Final Four, where they fell to Arizona.

This season, Bueckers is returning to a 20-5 Huskies team (14-1 Big East) ranked seventh in the Associated Press poll. The Huskies are riding a five-game winning streak that has featured them outscoring their opponents by 34.6 points per game along the way.

When she returns, Bueckers will have the opportunity to play with a healthy first-year superstar in Azzi Fudd. The two suited up for four games together at the beginning of the year, but Fudd was playing through a foot injury that ended up sidelining her for two months.

She's been back for a month and shooting the lights out, though, making 45.5 percent of her three-pointers while averaging 12.7 points per game.

Now they'll look to team up and help lead UConn to a national title alongside other standouts like Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.

The Huskies have one more regular-season game after the St. John's matchup (Sunday at home versus Providence) before the Big East Tournament starts.

The Sanders family continues to take over Jackson State athletics.

Shelomi Sanders, the daughter of Deion Sanders, announced her commitment to the Jackson State women's basketball team on Instagram. The 5'7" guard is joining a squad that is 14-0 in the SWAC this season and 16-6 overall.

"Proud Father," Deion Sanders wrote in the comments. 

The Pro Football Hall of Famer became the head coach of the Tigers football program in 2020, leading the Mississippi university to an 11-2 record last season. His son, Shilo, is a sophomore cornerback for the team, while Shedeur was named the FCS Freshman of the Year after his performance at quarterback in 2021.

"3 kids on campus! @shilosanders @shedeursanders & now @shelomisanders THIS IS WHAT I CALL CHILD SUPPORT," Deion wrote in an Instagram post after Shelomi's announcement.

The family continues to put the HBCU school in the national spotlight.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers is not expected to return before the end of the regular season, coach Geno Auriemma said Sunday.

"There's some really good days when she feels like, 'I could play tomorrow.' And then there's days when she’s reminded, 'No you can't,'" Auriemma told reporters. "So there's more good days than not, but she’s not going to be playing in this coming week. Let’s put it that way. You’re not going to see here Wednesday, Friday or Sunday.”

Bueckers has been out of the lineup since suffering a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear to her left knee Dec. 5. She was expected to return in eight weeks, but that timeframe has passed with no firm timetable for her return.

Auriemma would not commit to her being back for the Big East tournament, which gets underway March 4.

"What’s the Big East Tournament look like? I don’t know," Auriemma said. "We'll see. I said this before: When you're coming off an injury, the only person that knows when it's time is the athlete themselves, and you have to get to a point where you trust it and you feel confident in it. That's probably the last thing to come."

The Huskies lost two of their first three games without Bueckers, who was a National Player of the Year candidate, but have rebounded to post a 13-2 record over their last 15 games. They are a mortal lock to win the Big East regular-season championship and go into the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.

ESPN currently has UConn projected as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, which would mark the first time since 2013 Auriemma's team is not a No. 1 seed. Bueckers' return to the lineup, provided she's at 100 percent, could have them playing like a No. 1 at the right time of the season. 

Bueckers was averaging 21.2 points, 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds before going down with the knee injury. 

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the finalists for its class of 2022 on Friday. 

The group includes four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, three-time WNBA champion (and two-time NCAA champ) Swin Cash, four-time WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen and five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, among seven others.

As far as the other finalists go, the list also includes Leta Andrews, the winningest high school basketball coach in history. Michael Cooper was a key member of the Los Angeles Lakers' Showtime dynasty teams in the 1980s. Hugh Evans served as an NBA referee for three decades.

Bob Huggins, the current West Virginia men's basketball coach, owns 913 career wins on the collegiate level. Marques Johnson is a five-time NBA All-Star who also won the 1975 NCAA title with UCLA. Ex-NBA head coach George Karl sits sixth on the all-time regular-season wins list.

Marianne Stanley, the current Indiana Fever head coach, played at Immaculata during the school's AIAW basketball tournament dynasty in the 1970s. She's coached collegiately and professionally nearly every year since 1977 and won WNBA Coach of the Year honors with the 2002 Washington Mystics.

As far as the selection process for the eventual class goes, the Hall of Fame broke that down:

The purpose of the Honors Committee is to review carefully the selected Finalist’s basketball record before casting a vote in favor of or against Enshrining the Finalist in the BHOF. There are 24 voting members on each of the two Honors Committees (North American and Women’s). The Honors Committees consist of Hall of Famers, basketball executives and administrators, members of the media, and other experts in the game of basketball. A Finalist must garner a minimum of 18 votes from the respective Honors Committee to be Enshrined in the BHOF.

Hypothetically, all 11 finalists could make the Hall; there is no limit on the number of people per class.

The class of 2022 will be revealed during this year's NCAA Division I men's Final Four in New Orleans (April 2-4). The enshrinement ceremony will occur on Sept. 9 and 10 from Springfield, Massachusetts, the Hall of Fame's home.

In the span of fewer than 48 hours, the two best players in women's college basketball were both on display in two ranked matchups. On Sunday afternoon, it was No. 1-ranked South Carolina's 6'5" versatile and dominant forward, junior Aliyah Boston, taking on then-No. 17 Georgia. And then Monday evening, sensational sophomore point guard Caitlin Clark and her No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes took on No. 12 Maryland.

"Well, Caitlin Clark has the ball in her hands all the time," color commentator Debbie Antonelli said during Sunday's game. "Five triple-doubles. Leads the nation in scoring and assists. And Aliyah Boston is quite simply the most powerful low-post person in our game and she can dominate inside; she's got a high-post game. She has a lot of talent around her as well." 

While the broadcast referred to Boston on Sunday as the "front-runner" to walk away with the national player of year hardware by early April, the case was also made on Monday for Clark, who leads the country in points per game, assists per game and assist rate, according to Her Hoop Stats.

The two broadcasts brought to light the complex notion of what it means exactly to be the women's college basketball player of the year. Is the rightful winner of the coveted award determined by being the best player on the nation's best team, or it is a matter of who individually is producing like no one else in the country? Does it matter that the best player could be on a team that is ranked outside of the Top 15?

Both broadcasts were accompanied by a graphic that compared Boston's and Clark's numbers:

• Clark's over 27 points per game was next to Boston's 16.8. 
• Boston's near 12 boards a game was next to Clark's 8.1. 
• Clark has five triple-doubles this season, while Boston has none. But Boston has 19 double-doubles this season to Clark's 12. 

But let's look at some statistics that weren't put up on either broadcast earlier this week. Boston leads the country in total win shares with 11.3 to Clark's 9.1, although the offensive win shares edge belongs to Clark with 7.8 to Boston's 7.0.

Iowa's assist percentage with Clark on the floor is at 48.5 and ranked No. 1 in the country, according to Her Hoop Stats. With Boston on the floor for the Gamecocks, that number is lower at 45.2 percent.

Clark's defensive rating has improved by over 12.75 percent since her freshman year. But Boston still takes the cake. According to Synergy Sports, Boston gives up 0.615 points per possession, a number that puts her within the 85th percentile. Clark, who gives up 0.698 points per possession, sits in the 67th percentile. 

Pivot Analysis, another basketball analytics platform, declared on Twitter that Boston is the "most important player" on her team, deeming her the "front-runner" for NPOY. The Gamecocks' net rating, which determines how much better or worse a team is when a certain player is on the floor, conveyed that South Carolina without Boston is staggeringly less effective compared to what it is with her.

Without Boston on the floor, South Carolina has a net rating under two, while with Boston, its net rating is above 40 at 42.41. Boston's overall net rating, the difference between her individual offensive and defensive ratings, is 68 to Clark's 25.2. 

When asked to imagine what her team would be like without Boston on the floor, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley didn't want to imagine it. "It's hard for me to imagine not having her and her contributions, and it's just in so many different areas outside of the stat sheet because she's a communicator, she's a captain, she's a leader, she's a great teammate," Staley said. "She's a great competitor." 

If the deeper analytics are declaring that this is indeed Boston's award if the season were to end today, where does Clark really stand in this race and what led to Staley reacting on Twitter to what was said on the broadcast on Monday night?

While commentators aren't not mentioning Boston, they made sure they mentioned Clark multiple times during the South Carolina vs. Georgia broadcast on Sunday, including during the halftime show when there was a segment called: "What makes Caitlin Clark so special?" 

Dishing jaw-dropping assists, pulling up and draining threes from half court with unparalleled confidence, that's what. But also, what can't go unmentioned is the race and ethnicity of both players. The women's basketball media apparatus has at times struggled to give star Black players equitable coverage in comparison to their white counterparts. 

Meredith Cash and Russell Steinberg of the Brawl Don't Lie podcast discussed another reason Clark might be garnering a ton of NPOY attention. While Clark isn't the best player on the best team like Boston, her style of play is bringing more eyes to women's basketball.

"Being a flashy, exciting, engaging player makes you more talked about, more known and necessarily puts you in these conversations more," Cash said on the podcast. "... There are things about Caitlin Clark's game that are just so fun to watch that ... basically flashiness is going to factor in more than fundamentals, which is tough for players who are playing the game right and playing it really well and are benefiting their teams more." 

Players playing the game the right way have been given less attention in the past and sometimes have even been snubbed. In 2019, former UConn and current Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier was excluded as a finalist for the Naismith Trophy. Collier had more win shares than the player who'd end up winning the honor in Megan Gustafson, who was the top scorer in the country with 27.8 points per game that year.

But now in 2022, what is the race going to come down to? Win shares or points scored? Step-back threes or consecutive double-doubles? According to play-by-play commentator Beth Mowins, it's a tale as old as time. 

"It's an argument since we first hung the peach baskets up," she said Sunday afternoon. "Who's the more important, the more valuable? Is it that guard that has to initiate everything with the ball in their hands. Is it the big girl that everything has to go through? ... Or go above and beyond on the other end of the floor? It's great to be able to watch both do their thing."

As to who's the most important player in women's college basketball right now, it's Clark. But the player who provides the most on-court value is by far Boston. The body of work that she has presented in her junior season proves that she is impacting both sides of the ball in ways that no other player in women's college basketball is. 

The NCAA announced Friday it will continue to hold the Final Four for the men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments in separate locations.

Committees for both sports explored the possibility of hosting the events in the same city beginning in 2027 amid concerns the women's tournament doesn't receive the same level of attention from the governing body as the men's, but the idea was unanimously voted down, per The Athletic.

The idea was born from a review of the NCAA's gender equity by the Kaplan Hecker & Fink law firm, which determined the "challenges that the NCAA faces are significant and cut across the organization."

Among the recommendations was: "Conduct an assessment and develop a plan for combining or co-locating men's and women's championships where appropriate."

That probe was launched after several players and coaches in the 2021 women's NCAA tournament showcased the vast differences between the amenities available between their event and the one for the men, ranging from the weight rooms to the food offerings.

NCAA President Mark Emmert apologized for how the situation was handled last March.

"I and everybody in the NCAA have been so disappointed in the shortcomings that have been starkly abundant and recognized here in San Antonio," Emmert told reporters. "I am sorry for that. That is something that we should have never allowed to happen.”

Nina King, the chair of the NCAA women's basketball committee, released a statement Friday about the decision to keep the Final Fours separate, per The Athletic.

"Before additional modifications are made to the tournament's format and structure, it is important to us to see, for example, the effect an expanded bracket, the use of March Madness branding, and increased support from corporate partners can have on growing the women's game and the women's basketball championship," King said.

The women's tournament will feature 68 teams for the first time in 2022, creating four play-in games that have been featured in the men's event since 2011.

This year's women's Final Four will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, while the men's championship will be handed out at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

South Carolina's Dawn Staley is among the 15 coaches on the late-season watch list for the Naismith Women's Coach of the Year award.

The Gamecocks sit atop both the Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll after having compiled a 23-1 record.

Tara VanDerveer, the reigning Naismith Coach of the Year and a three-time winner, is still in the hunt as well with her Stanford Cardinal the No. 2 team in the country. 

Naismith Women's Coach of the Year Late-Season Watch List

• Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma 
• Adia Barnes, Arizona 
• Kim Barnes-Arico, Michigan 
• Bill Fennelly, Iowa State 
• Kelly Rae Finley, Florida 
• Nell Fortner, Georgia Tech 
• Kellie Harper, Tennessee 
• Jeff Judkins, BYU
• Wes Moore, North Carolina State 
• Teri Moren, Indiana 
• Kim Mulkey, LSU 
• Karl Smesko, Florida Gulf Coast 
• Dawn Staley, South Carolina 
• Tara VanDerveer, Stanford 
• Jeff Walz, Louisville

South Carolina opened with a road win over North Carolina State and hasn't looked back from there. The Gamecocks have piled up nine more victories over Top 25 opponents. Five of those were by double digits.

There's no question Staley's squad has solidified its status as the championship favorite this March, with double-double machine Aliyah Boston the front-runner for every major player of the year award.

The question is how the Coach of the Year voters determine the bar for success. Will Staley get the nod based on South Carolina's dominance, or will it be a coach who is judged to have overachieved the most?

In the case of the latter, Kim Mulkey might leapfrog the rest of the field. After winning nine games last year, LSU is 21-4 in Mulkey's first season at the helm.

The school made a major statement by poaching the legendary coach from Baylor, and her hiring is paying immediate dividends.

Along the same lines, Oklahoma could double its win total after going 12-12 and missing the NCAA tournament in 2020-21. The Sooners have wins over Texas and BYU and a sweep of Baylor on their 2021-22 resume, and they can avenge their 81-71 loss to Iowa State when the teams meet again Saturday.

Sherri Coale left big shoes to fill when she retired, and Jennie Baranczyk has immediately turned Oklahoma into a tournament team again.

In a surprising result, the No. 8 UConn women's basketball team suffered a 72-69 loss on its home floor to unranked Villanova on Wednesday.

It's the first time UConn has fallen to a Big East opponent in nine years, as the loss ends the Huskies' 169-game conference winning streak dating back to 2013.

The victory continued an eight-game win streak for the Wildcats, who defeated the Huskies for the first time since February 2004.

The first and third quarters doomed UConn, which struggled to stop the Villanova offense. The Huskies were outscored by 10 in each of those frames and faced a 62-45 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

UConn's offense finally woke up with a 24-point burst in the final period, but it was too late. The Huskies cut the lead to two with nine seconds left, but Villanova's Brianna Herlihy hit one of two free throws and UConn couldn't get another shot off before time expired.

The Wildcats (16-6, 10-3) shot 51.8 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from three-point range. Villanova never trailed in the game and outrebounded UConn 37-21. Lior Garzon led the way with 19 points, while Maddy Siegrist had 17 points and 12 boards. Herlihy added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman Azzi Fudd's career-high 29 points and Christyn Williams' 24 points led the Huskies (15-5, 9-1). No other player on the team scored in double figures as only eight players were available, and only six saw playing time.

Villanova will go for its ninth straight win on Friday against Marquette, while UConn will look to bounce back that same day against DePaul.