INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – The way conferences have scheduled this season and in the case of the Power 4, handled the various adjustments from realignment in addition to becoming overloaded with ranked teams, has resulted in many of the eager matchups expected back in the fall through forecasts at media days are just becoming nightly attractions.
A year ago, UCLA, USC, and Stanford, ran into each other to sellout crowds right in the front end of the Pac-12 race in its final season of existence as was acclaimed involving the women’s competition.
In the Big Ten, UCLA holding No. 1 in the Associated Press women’s poll for 11 straight weeks as of Monday’s release has yet to see USC, its Los Angeles rival, which slipped from fourth to No. 7 after the stunning loss at unranked Iowa on a day Caitlin Clark returned to see the Hawkeyes retire her jersey.
And the wild cards as March Madness looms are the mid-majors, which have a lot of competitive talent but have unable to crack the rankings as they have in the past, No. 5 Connecticut in the Big East the lone non-Power 4 representative to be a constant which will earn its 600th straight ranking next week.
The conference tourneys themselves, whose in-house playoff wars will shape the NCAA bracket and the first few rounds of the Big Dance in which many mid-majors will look to pull upsets, may make this the first season in which the electricity of the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight will show itself much earlier than ever.
The mix of players from mid-majors and the Power 4 being chosen for ongoing USBWA in-season honors offers a preview through the special individual achievements and milestones of the excitement beginning to intensify.
Incidentally, past USBWA honoree Yvonne Ejim of Gonzaga last week became the first in West Coast Conference history to have reached both 2,000-plus career points and 1,000 rebounds.
The USBWA women’s awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are chosen from weekly conference honors as well as at-large additions. Nominations are welcome as each seven-day period rolls along to make sure no one is inadvertently overlooked.
There is no restriction within a week on the number of national honors received within a conference, especially the way realignment has affected membership size.
For the period through Sunday, Feb. 2, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are Kentucky guard Georgia Amoore; Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo; Iowa guard Lucy Olsen; Columbia guard Riley Weiss; UNCW forward Ali Zelaya. The Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week is Vanderbilt guard Makayla Blakes and and the National Team of the Week is North Carolina.
Amoore, a 5-6 graduate guard and Virginia Tech transfer out of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, who followed former Hokies coach Kenny Brooks to rebuild Kentucky, led the Wildcats (19-2, 8-1) to two ranked victories in the SEC, averaging 29.5 points and 8.5 assists, shooting 55.3 percent from the field and 50 percent on 3-point attempts. Kentucky moved up a spot to No. 11, highest since 2021. In a 65-56 win over visiting then-No. 22 Alabama, she scored 16 points and then at Oklahoma in a 95-86 win over the then-No. 13 Sooners in Norman, she tied a Kentucky record, scoring 43 points to match WNBA star Rhyne Howard in 2020 and Jennifer O’Neill in 2013. She was 7-12 on attempts from deep. She’s the fifth player in Division I this season to score that total, and just the second in the SEC and became the first player in the program history and the only player in the SEC since 2002-03 to have at least 43 points and eight assists in a game. She’s the only active D-1 men’s or women’s player with 2,000 career points and 800 assists, leads the nation with a 7.1 assists average through 21 games, and has now been named a USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Week twice this season.
Hidalgo, a 5-6 sophomore guard out of Merchantville, N.J., in suburban Philadelphia, led No. 3 Notre Dame (19-2,10-0) to an 89-71 win at Louisville, shooting 12-22 from the field, 8-8 free throws and five assists, collecting 34 points after a 77-61 win at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg scoring 30 points, 16 in the third quarter, she was 3-7 from deep, and and 7-7 from the line. A multi USBWA honoree this season, on Monday she also picked up her fourth ACC Player of the Week, and with a 26.1 average, she is decimal points behind the ACC Florida State’s Ta’Niya Watson, second in the nation .14 to 0.5 in scoring. “She’s just a dog,” said Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey after the Louisville game. “She came out with such fire, tenacity. She made big plays and big shots, and we really fed off her energy.” The Irish are 10-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2015-16. It’s the second time Hidalgo has had back-to-back 30-point games, and she leads the team with 75 steals and 45 makes from deep.
Olsen, a 5-10 senior guard from Collegeville, Pa., and transfer from Villanova where she picked up multiple Big East Player of the Week awards and USBWA weekly honors, came to Iowa, replacing Caitlin Clark on the roster and, on a day the former Hawkeye returned home before a sellout crowd to have her jersey retired, Olsen had her best game of the season, scoring 28 points leading the team (15-7, 5-6) to a 76-69 upset in the Big Ten of then-No. 4 USC, with 23 of the points in the second half, 15 in the fourth quarter. For the game, she was 10-18 from the field, 8-9 from beyond the arc. Earlier in the week, she scored 16 points with six assists in an 85-80 home win over Northwestern, and on Monday she was named a Big Ten Co-Player of the Week.
Weiss, a 5-10 sophomore guard out of Hewlett, N.Y., on Long Island, averaged 25.5 points and 6.0 rebounds, with 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals shooting 17-33 for 51.5 percent, 9-16 from the line for 56.3 percent. in a showdown game won at Harvard that put Columbia (16-4, 7-0) on top of the Ivy League as the only unbeaten team in the Ancient Eight standings in league play at the halfway point. In the showdown game that separated the Lions from the rest of the league with a victory at Harvard she scored a career-high 26 points, shooting 9-17 from the field, 5-9 from the field. The next night at Dartmouth she scored 25, shooting 8-16 from the field, 4-7 on 3-point attempts. She’s third in the nation, averaging 3.25 made 3-pointers and leads the Ivies with shooting 38.9 percent on attempted threes. Columbia has won nine straight and 17 straight regular-season Ivy games dating to a year ago, and on Monday Weiss won her second straight Ivy League Player of the Week award. “I thought she was pretty great,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said of Weiss after the Harvard game. “Riley is a star in the making. She is just figuring out how good she is…”
Zelaya, a 6-4 graduate forward and transfer from North Carolina out of Goodyear, Ariz., averaged 24 points, 13.5 rebounds, and three blocks in a pair of Coastal Athletic Association wins by the Seahawks, shooting 46.2 percent on 39 attempts from the field. She had a career-high 26 points, shooting 11-of-23 in a 65-57 win over Stony Brook on Sunday, with 14 rebounds, and a pair of blocked shots. On Friday, in a 70-67 win over Hofstra, she scored 22, shooting 7-16 with 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. She leads the league in rebounds with 206 and has a 9.4 average, and 7.8 on the defensive boards. She has blocked 46 shots. On Monday, she was named CAA Player of the Week. “She came here to have a chance to be an impact player,” said UNCW coach Nicole Woods. “Her impact goes beyond the basketball court. That being said, she’s pretty good at basketball and proved that this weekend.”
Blakes, a 5-8 freshman guard out of Somerset, N.J., has done something that not even Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers or Caitlin Clark did when they kept taking places in 2021 racking up multiple USBWA freshman awards. She’s the first to win three straight USBWA Tamika Catching honors. In a few days after the Commodores earned their first Associated Press ranking since 2013-14, and she picked up her fourth SEC freshman honor, in a 99-86 win at Florida in Gainsville, she set the NCAA true-freshman record with 53 points, one less than the overall set by Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne after she switched from UConn but her first season near her Wilmington home she played only volleyball. The previous mark of 51 came last season from USC sensation JuJu Watkins, who has won the USBWA Tamika Catchings Award. She’s the only men’s or women’s player to score 50 this season and broke the Vanderbilt single-game scoring mark of 42 set by Khamil Pierre on Dec. 17 hosting Evansville and the SEC record of 51 set by LSU’s Jocelyn Penn on Jan. 4, 2003, against Stetson. She had 21 in the first half and then scored 32 over the second half. Including 18 in the fourth quarter. She shot 66.7 from the field, going 16 for 24, with a career-high 16 foul shots, tied for third in the Vandy program and connected for five 3-pointers. Her total tied the arena record previously held on the men’s side in 1988-89 and she’s the first since 1999-00 to have back-to-back 30 plus games, and the first freshman to ever do so. Though the Commodores’ four-game win streak ended Sunday at the hands of Ole Miss, she scored 16, though she also lost time in the game in foul trouble.
North Carolina, which rose to No. 13 Monday, achieved a first for the ACC old-guard in the new-look ACC, sweeping the West Coast swing against new members Stanford and then-No. 19 California, giving the Golden Bears of Berkeley their first ACC home loss. In the 65-52 win at California, Reniya Kelly scored 16 points, and the Tar Heels (20-4, 8-3) separated in the fourth quarter when she scored eight points. That spoiled the night for San Francisco transfer Ioanna Krimili, who set the Bears’ season record with 66 from deep on her fourth 3-pointer, and with 403 from beyond the arc she’s the 16th woman to score at least 400 in her career in NCAA competition. On Sunday, UNC held off a rallying Stanford group for a 69-67 victory. It was Kelly again, this time scoring five of her ten points in the final period to help stem the Cardinal rally.
Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a women’s National Player of the Year. For the 2012-13 season, the national and weekly player award became named for Hall of Famer and former UCLA All-American Ann Meyers Drysdale while the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings, which was applied at the start of the 2019-20 season.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for both individual awards, which is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA.
The winners of the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year and Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year will be announced and presented at the USBWA’s annual awards event on site at the NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected a women's All-America team since the 1996-97 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.
2024-25 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 10: Destiny Adams, Rutgers; Raegan Beers, Oklahoma; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Diamond Johnson, Norfolk State; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; (National); Syla Swords, Michigan (Freshman); Oregon (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 17: Paige Bueckers, Connecticut; Hayley Cavinder, Miami; Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee; Jordyn Jenkins, UTSA; Harmoni Turner, Harvard (National); Kate Koval, Notre Dame (Freshman); TCU (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 24: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; Lauren Jensen, Creighton; Maya McDermott, Northern Iowa; Rose Micheaux, Virginia Tech; Sarah Strong, Connecticut (National); Toby Fournier, Duke (Freshman); UCLA (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 1: Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State; Aneesah Morrow, LSU; Hailey Van Lith (TCU), Sedona Prince (TCU); Clara Strack, Kentucky (National); Justice Carlton, Texas (Freshman); Duke (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 8: Sonia Citron, Notre Dame; Tiarra East, Temple; Emma Ronsiek, Colorado State; JuJu Watkins, Southern Cal; Mikaylah Williams, LSU (National); Sarah Miller, Penn (Freshman); South Carolina, Tennessee (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 15: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; S’Mya Nichols, Kansas; Khamil Pierre, Vanderbilt; Marta Suarez, California; Serah Williams, Wisconsin (National); Kiyomi McMiller, Rutgers (Freshman); Georgia Tech (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 22: Madison Conner, TCU; Frida Formann, Colorado; Sammie Puisis, South Florida; JuJu Watkins, USC; Laura Ziegler, Saint Joseph’s (National); Lanie Grant, North Carolina (Freshman); Alabama (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 29: Kara Dunn, Georgia Tech; Elle Ladine, Washington; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; Kaylene Smikle, Maryland; JuJu Watkins, USC (National); Tori McKinney, Minnesota (Freshman); Norfolk State (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 5: Georgia Amoore, Kentucky; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Katie Dinnebier, Drake; Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State; Faith Masonius, Seton Hall (National); Jordan Lee, Texas (Freshman); Clemson (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 12: Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy; Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State; Liatu King, Notre Dame; Grace Larkins, South Dakota; JuJu Watkins, USC (National); Gal Raviv, Quinnipiac (Freshman); South Carolina (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 19: Paige Bueckers, UConn; Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga; Aziaha James, NC State; Rachel Ullstrom, Richmond; Mikaylah Williams, LSU (National); Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt; Britt Prince, Nebraska (Freshmen); South Carolina (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 26: Amaris Baker, Drexel; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Ta'Niya Latson, Florida State; Ashley Sofilkanich, Bucknell; Katelyn Young, Murray State (National); Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt (Freshman); Texas (Team).
• Week ending Feb. 2: Georgia Amoore, Kentucky; Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; Lucy Olsen, Iowa; Riley Weiss, Columbia; Ali Zelaya, UNCW (National); Makayla Blakes, Vanderbilt (Freshman); North Carolina (Team).