The Best of NCAA Basketball

Key:

PTS: Points

REB: Rebounds

STL: Steals 

3P%: Made three point percentage

FT%: Made free throw percentage

TO: Turnovers

MIN: Minutes

TD3: Triple Doubles

Average Stats (as of 2/14/24):

Based on the 2023-2024 season (so far)

There are three players in NCAA basketball (women’s) who are generally regarded as the best. Those are: Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese. This article will serve as an informative source for all three players, in addition to being an overview of their seasons.

Overall I would have to say that Clark is best when it comes to stats but Bueckers is close behind. They are all phenomenal players, so statistics are deceptively unimportant, due to some players being on overall better teams. What I mean by this is that some teammates are more inclined to shoot, giving less of an opportunity to these three. For example, Aliyah Boston, the number one pick in the WNBA draft this past season, was obviously a spectacular player. Even though she is in the WNBA and not the NCAA, her former team, the South Carolina Gamecocks, are still ranked #1 in the country. That shows that they weren’t only good because of Boston, and it was all a team effort.

Caitlin Clark:

Her team, the Iowa Hawkeyes, have a record of 21 wins and 2 losses* and are ranked second in the Big Ten conference. They are also ranked fourth among NCAA D1 Women’s Basketball teams. The Hawkeyes coach, Lisa Bluder, has not won any championships**. They came close to winning the championship last year, but lost to LSU. Clark beat Kelsey Plum’s all time women’s NCAA scoring record against Michigan. Iowa was dominating the whole game and Clark contributed a lot, as she had 49 points, 5 rebounds, and 13 assists in the 37 minutes she played. 

Paige Bueckers: 

Bueckers was out with an injury (ACL) for the whole 2022-2023 season, but she is back now and ready to win. Her team, the UConn Huskies, currently have 20 wins and 5 losses this season and are first in the Big East Conference. Overall they are *ranked 15th in the country. Their coach, Geno Auriemma, recently got his 1,200th win and isn’t stopping there. He is in his 39th season as a coach of the UConn Huskies, and has won 11 **championships with the team. 

Angel Reese:

Angel Reese and her team, the LSU Tigers, are coming into the 2023-2024 season after a big championship win to close out their 2022-2023 season, where they dominated against #2 ranked Iowa. Their coach, Kim Mulkey, has won four **championships; three with Baylor and one with LSU. LSU currently has a *record of 21 wins and 4 losses. They are ranked second in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and 13th in the country. 

WNBA Draft

Will any of these players be in the WNBA draft this year? That is a question that a lot of women’s college basketball fans are asking. More specifically, is Caitlin Clark going to be in the 2024 WNBA draft? Clark and Reese have one more year of eligibility, while Bueckers has two more. Clark is a senior, Reese and Bueckers are juniors (technically Bueckers is a Senior). Bueckers has two years of eligibility because she redshirted her 2022-2023, (junior year) due to an ACL injury. That means that she has another year to play, if she chooses (and she did), because she got injured and was out for the whole season. Since Bueckers has two more years of eligibility she can go into the WNBA draft or she can stay at UConn for two more years. Bueckers announced something very important at senior night. Everyone was holding their breath, the crowd was deadly silent. She stated “Unfortunately… this will not be my last senior night at Uconn.” Paige Bueckers is indeed not going into the 2024 WNBA draft, despite being the #2 pick in ESPN’s mock draft. Also, Clark has another year of eligibility left, because of Covid, so she can go into the WNBA draft, or she can stay at Iowa for a year. The only information on Caitlin Clark going into the 2024 WNBA draft, is that she is undecided. Similarly, Angel Reese is also undecided about her decision on going into the WNBA draft or playing for LSU for another year. 

*All of their records and rankings will change as the season continues.

** Championship refers to March Madness, and ultimately winning the whole tournament