USBWA News from Mel Greenberg News

Week 3 of the current women’s basketball season through Sunday night, Nov. 26, was a Thanksgiving feast of tournaments, most with predetermined matches, across the nation and down in the Caribbean, once again providing dynamic performances, stunning upsets, and a wealth of candidates to fill the USBWA expansion to five Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week honorees in addition to the singular Tamika Catchings freshman and team citations.

For their performances in the past seven days, this week’s five Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week honorees are Stanford forward Cameron Brink, Texas forward Taylor Jones, Kansas State center Ayoka Lee, Villanova guard Lucy Olsen, and Harvard guard Harmoni Turner. The Tamika Catchings freshman award goes to Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo while Baylor is the team of the week.

A new season is bringing a new and expanded look to the weekly women’s and men’s collegiate awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in handing out five national Ann Meyers Drysdale weekly honors to the women and five Oscar Robertson honors on the men’s side. For their performances in the tumultuous week that ended Sunday, Nov. 12, the season’s first five Ann Meyers-Drysdale honorees are Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, the reigning USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Award winner as the national player of the year; South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso; NC State guard Saniya Rivers; Stanford forward Kiki Iriafen; and Marquette forward Liza Karlen. The Tamika Catchings freshman honor goes to USC guard JuJu Watkins, while Colorado is the National Team of the Week.

INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – Coaching her trademark shutdown defense with a roster that includes two All-Americans, South Carolina's Dawn Staley is the USBWA National Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and third time in four seasons. Staley led the Gamecocks (34-0) to the SEC regular-season and tournament titles as they went the entire season ranked in the top spot of the Associated Press poll, only the third program to ever accomplish it.

Florida State guard Ta'Niya Latson, the ACC Rookie of the Year and the nation's 11th-leading scorer, has won the 2022-23 Tamika Catchings Award as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's National Freshman Player of the Year.

For the season’s 12th and final weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Feb. 26, South Carolina guard Zia Cooke is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Notre Dame guard KK Bransford is the Tamika Catchings freshman recipient, and Iowa is the National Team of the Week.

For the season’s eleventh weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Feb. 19, Arizona guard Shaina Pellington is Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Florida State guard Ta’Niya Latson is the Tamika Catchings freshman recipient, and Little Rock is the National Team of the Week.

For the season’s tenth weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Feb. 12, Villanova forward Maddy Siegrist, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, and Virginia Tech guard Georgia Amoore, are co-players of the week, Maryland guard Bri McDaniel is the freshman recipient, and South Carolina is the National Team of the Week.

For the season’s ninth weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Feb. 5, South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston, the reigning USBWA national player of the year, and Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, a past honoree, share the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week honor, Washington guard Elle Ladine is the Tamika Catchings Award freshman recipient, and UNLV is the team of the week.

For the season’s eighth weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Jan. 29, Stanford forward Cameron Brink is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Princeton guard Madison St. Rose is the Tamika Catchings freshman recipient and Indiana is the National Team of the Week.

For the season’s seventh weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Jan. 22, North Carolina guard-forward Alyssa Ustby is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Texas A&M forward Janiah Barker is the Tamika Cathcing National Freshman of the Week and Middle Tennessee is the team of the week.

For the season’s sixth weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Jan. 15, Texas guard Shaylee Gonzales is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Indiana guard Yarden Garzon is the Tamika Catchings freshman recipient and USC is the team of the week.

INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – The returning winner, six returning All-Americans and three former Freshmen of the Year players are on the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Midseason Watch List. The USBWA’s list highlights 21 outstanding basketball players from seven different conferences including teammates from Iowa, South Carolina, Stanford and UConn.

For the season’s fourth weekly women’s awards from the U.S.Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Jan. 1, Duke guard/forward Elizabeth Balogun is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Florida State guard Ta’Niya Latson is the Tamika Catchings freshman recipient and Illinois is the national team of the week.

For the season’s third weekly women’s awards from the U.S.Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Dec. 25, Villanova senior forward Maddy Siegrist is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Oregon forward Grace VanSlooten is the Tamika Catchings national freshman recipient and Ohio State is the team of the week.

For the season’s second weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for games ending Sunday, Dec. 18, Drexel graduate guard Keishana Washington is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Santa Clara guard Tess Heal is the Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week  and St. John’s is the National Team of the Week.

For the season’s first weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Dec. 11, DePaul sophomore forward Aneesah Morrow is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Florida State guard Ta’Niyah Latson is the Tamika Catchings National Freshman Player of the Week, while Kansas is the National Team of the Week.

In her third All-America season with a record-setting double-double streak and Southeastern Conference Player and Defensive Player of the Year accolades, South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston is the winner of the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the National Player of the Year, as selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Dawn Staley, the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year who has her South Carolina team back in the Final Four for a second consecutive season and contending for the program's second national championship, is the USBWA National Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. Staley has the SEC-champion Gamecocks (33-2) playing in their fourth Final Four this weekend, each of them under her leadership, following a national semifinal loss to eventual champion Stanford a year ago. In the 2019-20 season, Staley's Gamecocks were 32-1 before Covid forced the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament.

DePaul forward Aneesah Morrow, who leads the nation in three separate rebounding categories and recorded 27 double-doubles as a second-team USBWA All-American, has won the 2021-22 Tamika Catchings Award as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's National Freshman Player of the Year.