History UsefulNotes / Basketball

* '''Indiana Fever''': Founded in 2000, named for Indiana's well-known basketball obsession. Saved from potential folding with a run to the 2009 Finals, and then won the 2012 Finals. Was projected to make its first profit in 2013 and remained a competitive force until the end of the 2010s. They share the Indiana Pacers' home of Gainbridge Fieldhouse in UsefulNotes/{{Indianapolis}} (though renovations displaced them for part of the early 2020s). The Fever may show signs of a resurgence in 2024, with 2023 ROY Aliyah Boston almost certain to be joined by all-time Division I career scoring leader UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark.[[note]]The Fever will have the #1 pick in the 2024 draft, as it did in 2023, with Clark's selection being viewed as a foregone conclusion.[[/note]]

* '''UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark''': Though yet to formally enter the WNBA, as she just finished her college career at Iowa, Clark is possibly ''already'' the most famous woman to ever play basketball and all but guaranteed to be the Indiana Fever's #1 overall pick in 2024. A dominant long-range scorer and an equally skilled passer, Clark essentially rewrote the record books for college basketball; she holds the NCAA Division I records for both women and men in career points and single-season three-pointers; holds the D-I women's career records for single-season points, points per game, and threes; scored more points than any male or female player in a single NCAA tournament during Iowa's 2023 campaign (coming up short in the final against LSU); scored more career points in the NCAA women's tournament than any other player; and led the nation in points and/or assists in all four of her seasons at Iowa.[[note]]Once in points only, once in assists only, and twice in both.[[/note]] Perhaps even more critically, she contributed to a nigh-unprecedented interest in women's basketball, setting several attendance and viewership records throughout her career--notably, the average TV viewership for women's college basketball actually ''exceeded'' the men's game during her final regular season.

*** ''Most recent winners (2024)'': Kelvin Sampson (men); Staley (women)[[note]]Repeated from 2023.[[/note]]

* '''Becky Hammon''': A Hall of Fame point guard out of Colorado State who played 16 seasons in the league before retiring in 2014. Although small by WNBA standards (5'6"/1.68 m) and not exceptionally fast, she made up for her relative lack of physical skills with an extraordinary basketball IQ. The New York Liberty signed the undrafted point guard in 1999 and traded her to the San Antonio Stars in 2007 (where she led the league in assists in her first season). Despite being born in South Dakota, Hammon became a naturalized Russian citizen; this decision was controversial, but it allowed Hammon to make significantly more money in her playing career and play in the Olympics after not making the U.S. team, winning bronze in 2008. Just before the end of the six-time All-Star's final season as a player, she made headlines when the NBA's San Antonio Spurs hired her as an assistant. Hammon became the first woman to be a full-time coach in any of America's four major professional leagues and remained with the Spurs through the 2021–22 season, by which time she was increasingly seen as a potential NBA head coach in the making. On New Year's Eve 2020, she became the first woman to act as an NBA head coach, taking over after Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game. Hammon returned to the W in 2022 to become head coach of the franchise where she had finished her playing career and that had retired her #25, now known as the Las Vegas Aces, and in her first season led the Aces to the league's best record, winning Coach of the Year, and following that up with the franchise's first two WNBA titles, won in consecutive seasons.
* '''Chamique Holdsclaw''': WhatCouldHaveBeen in a smooth, athletic package with a knack for getting into small spaces. She came into the league in 1999 with high expectations after being part of three championship teams at Tennessee. Lingering knee and hamstring problems cut many of her seasons short, while battles with depression compounded by family tragedies left gaps in her career. You might not want to get into that last part with people.

* '''Becky Hammon''': A Hall of Fame point guard out of Colorado State who played 16 seasons in the league before retiring in 2014. Although small by WNBA standards (5'6"/1.68 m) and not exceptionally fast, she made up for her relative lack of physical skills with an extraordinary basketball IQ. The New York Liberty signed the undrafted point guard in 1999 and traded her to the San Antonio Stars in 2007 (where she led the league in assists in her first season). Despite being born in South Dakota, Hammon became a naturalized Russian citizen and represented Russia internationally, winning a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics; this decision was controversial, but it allowed Hammon to make significantly more money in her playing career and play in the Olympics after not making the U.S. team. Just before the end of the six-time All-Star's final season as a player, she made headlines when the NBA's San Antonio Spurs hired her as an assistant. Hammon became the first woman to be a full-time coach in any of America's four major professional leagues and remained with the Spurs through the 2021–22 season, by which time she was increasingly seen as a potential NBA head coach in the making. On New Year's Eve 2020, she became the first woman to act as an NBA head coach, taking over after Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game. Hammon returned to the W in 2022 to become head coach of the franchise where she had finished her playing career and that had retired her #25, now known as the Las Vegas Aces, and in her first season led the Aces to the league's best record, winning Coach of the Year, and following that up with the franchise's first two WNBA titles, won in consecutive seasons.

[[folder: The WNBA: Professional Women's Basketball]]

[[folder: WNBA Awards and Honors]]

* '''Becky Hammon''': A point guard out of Colorado State who played 16 seasons in the league before retiring at the end of the 2014 season. Although small by WNBA standards (5'6"/1.68 m) and not exceptionally fast, she made up for her relative lack of physical skills with an extraordinary basketball IQ. Represented Russia internationally; that country was one of her many overseas stops during her career. A six-time All-Star, Hammon was named one of the league's 15 greatest players at its 15th anniversary in 2011. Before the end of her final season as a player, she made headlines when the San Antonio Spurs hired her as an assistant (effective at season's end). Hammon became the first woman to be a full-time coach in any of America's four major professional leagues and remained with the Spurs through the 2021–22 season, by which time she was increasingly being seen as a potential NBA head coach in the making. On New Year's Eve 2020, she became the first woman to act as an NBA head coach, taking over after Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game. Hammon returned to the W in 2022 to become head coach of the franchise where she had finished her playing career, now known as the Las Vegas Aces, and in her first season led the Aces to the league's best record, earning her Coach of the Year honors, following that up with the franchise's first WNBA title. This made her the W's first HC ever to win the title in her first season in the position.[[note]]Van Chancellor, the coach who led the Houston Comets to the first four WNBA titles, had previously been a high school and college HC for more than 30 years.[[/note]] The Aces repeated as champs in 2023 under Hammon's watch. She entered the Women's Hall in 2022 and the Naismith Hall in 2023, in both cases as a player.

* '''Sylvia Fowles''': Center for the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx, drafted second overall by the Sky in 2008 from LSU, where she was the Southeastern Conference's all-time leading rebounder. Fowles quickly established herself as a solid scorer, tenacious rebounder, and elite defender, becoming a perennial All-Star and claiming the first two of her four Defensive Player of the Year nods. After seven seasons in Chicago, she had a contract dispute and sat out the first half of the 2014 season until she got traded to Minnesota, joining forces with Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, and Lindsay Whalen to win WNBA titles in 2015 and 2017. Fowles was also Finals MVP in both seasons as well as league MVP in 2017. Not to mention that she got two more DPOY nods in 2016 and 2021. In 2020, she surpassed Rebekkah Brunson as the W's career rebounding leader, and ended her career in 2022 as the first W player with 4,000 career boards.

* '''Seimone Augustus''': Hall of Fame forward who spent all but the last of her 16 WNBA seasons with the Minnesota Lynx. She was featured on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' for women in high school, promoting her as the possible female Michael Jordan. Her success continued during her college years at LSU where she won many national awards and led her team to three Final Four appearances; LSU put a statue of her up in front of its arena in 2023. Augustus was drafted #1 overall by the Lynx in 2006, where she quickly made her presence known by winning Rookie of the Year. In 2011, when another promising rookie named Maya Moore joined the team, she led the Lynx to their first WNBA title and won Finals MVP; she would contribute to three more titles in Minnesota over the following decade. She initially planned to retire after 2019 season but lost most of that season to injury and ultimately left for the Sparks as a free agent, spending the 2020 season in the "Wubble" in Bradenton before entering coaching. The Lynx retired her #33.

* '''Cynthia Cooper''': The league's first MVP and a member of both the Naismith and Women's Halls of Fame. A sixth woman at USC, she honed her skills in Italy before being assigned to the Houston Comets and proceeding to heck everyone's garbage up on her way to four straight titles before retiring in 2000. Her single-game scoring record (44) in the inaugural season stood for ten years. An all-around threat, though not a great pro coach. Now known by her married name of Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, she's since gone into college coaching, with [[HesBack two stints]] at Texas Southern (retiring from the last of these in 2022) sandwiched by a few years at her alma mater of USC.

*** ''Most recent winners'': Edey (men, 2023); Clark (women, 2024)

* '''Indiana Hoosiers''' -- Five-time national champions, they are famous for having been coached from 1972 to 2000 by Bob Knight, who coached them to three of those titles. The first of Knight's title teams, that of 1976, is also the most recent D-I men's team to complete an unbeaten season. Knight is as well-known for getting his charges through school as well as his HairTriggerTemper. Indiana's trophy winners at the college level included Scott May and Calbert Cheaney. IU hasn't done a lot in women's basketball, but the Hoosier women have one ''very'' notable alum--Tara [=VanDerveer=], longtime coach of women's powerhouse Stanford.

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': Dalton Knecht, 5th-year senior, Tennessee

* '''Stanford''': The Cardinal (yes, Cardinal, the color, not the bird) was the lone representative of high-quality women's basketball on the West Coast for a loooong time until the very recent emergence of other Pac-12 schools, such as Oregon (thanks largely to Sabrina Ionescu; see the WNBA section), Oregon State, and Arizona (whom the Cardinal narrowly defeated for the 2021 title). Three-time national champions and several more times bridesmaid, they're coached by Tara [=VanDerveer=], who became the second D-I women's head coach with 1,000 wins in 2017, passed Pat Summitt for the most wins by a D-I women's head coach in 2020, and passed Coach K's wins total on the men's side in 2024, with Auriemma hot on her heels. The Cardinal's 2021 championship ended the program's and [=VanDerveer's=] ''29-year'' title drought--the longest gap between titles for any NCAA Division I coach ''in any sport'', not just basketball. They ended [=UConn's=] 90-game winning streak.[[note]]Stanford was also the last team to defeat the Huskies before they started their 111-game overall and 126-game regular-season streaks.[[/note]] You might not want to mention [[BerserkButton Harvard]] around them. [[note]]In 1998, Harvard upset Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Women's Tournament, making the Crimson the first No. 16 seed to win a tournament game (a feat that wasn't matched in the men's tournament until 2018). And to boot, first-round games were played on the home court of the higher seed at the time.[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winners (2023)'': Edey (men); Clark (women)

* '''Villanova Wildcats''' -- One of UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}'s "Big Five" basketball programs,[[note]]The other traditional members are La Salle, Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's, and Temple. Drexel was officially added to the rivalry in 2023–24, but the group is [[ArtifactTitle still the "Big Five"]] (partially at Drexel's insistence).[[/note]] [[FanNickname Nova]] has been a power in the region for decades, regularly making NCAA appearances, but made their first major splash in 1971, losing in the championship game to UCLA... though that result would be wiped from the record books when it came out that their biggest star had signed a pro contract during that season. The Wildcats' first championship in 1985 was one of the biggest shocks in NCAA tournament history this side of UMBC over Virginia or Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue (see below), with Nova stunning heavily favored Big East rival Georgetown thanks to shooting nearly 80% from the field in the final. Nova reached new heights in this century under HC Jay Wright, winning its second national title in 2016 over North Carolina on a buzzer-beating three-pointer and its third in 2018 in dominant fashion, winning all of their tournament games by double digits. However, in a ''far'' more stunning move than that of Coach K, Wright retired after the 2021–22 season.[[note]]Stunning in that Coach K was 75 at the time of his final game, while Wright was "just" 60.[[/note]]

* '''University of Southern California''': USC, or the Women of Troy. At their peak in the mid-'80s, their stars included the [=McGee=] twins, Pamela and Paula (if you're an NBA geek, you might recognize Pamela's son [=JaVale=], and if you're a WNBA geek you may recognize Pamela's daughter Imani [=McGee-Stafford=]), Cheryl Miller (if you follow basketball at all, you probably recognize her kid brother Reggie), and Cynthia Cooper. They had a renaissance in the mid-'90s, then faded out, but are showing signs of a resurgence in 2023–24 behind freshman phenom [=JuJu=] Watkins. Cooper was their head coach for four seasons until stepping down after the 2016–17 season.

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': Tristen Newton, 5th-year senior, [=UConn=][[note]]Newton would normally have run out of college eligibility in 2021–22, but the NCAA ruled that the 2020–21 season, heavily disrupted by COVID-19, would not count against the eligibility of any individual in the NCAA's winter sports, including basketball.[[/note]]

* '''[=UConn=] Huskies''' -- The reigning NCAA champion. Representing the University of Connecticut, the Huskies men were a regional power in New England for many decades, and the school was also a founding member of the original Big East Conference in 1979. However, [=UConn=] didn't become a national name until the 1990s under coach Jim Calhoun. After falling short of the Final Four throughout that decade, they broke through in 1999, not only reaching the Final Four but also claiming the national title. They went on to win two more titles in '04 and '11 under Calhoun. After he retired just before the 2012–13 season, he was replaced by his top assistant (and former [=UConn=] player) Kevin Ollie. After being barred from the '13 tournament for academic reasons, and being left behind in the conference realignment shuffle of the early 2010s,[[note]]Unlike NJIT, whose conference imploded around it and couldn't find a home, [=UConn=] was instead stuck in the American Athletic Conference, the football rump of the former Big East.[[/note]] they picked up a fourth national title in 2014 before falling into a dry spell, leading to Ollie's replacement by Dan Hurley, a member of a prominent coaching family. The Huskies revived their (men's) fortunes with a move to the reconfigured Big East in 2020, followed by a fifth natty in '23. Among their star players are Ray Allen and Richard "Rip" Hamilton (the latter a star on the first championship team). As strong as [=UConn=] is in men's basketball, it's even stronger in women's basketball. Led by coach Geno Auriemma, the Huskies[[note]] not Lady Huskies[[/note]] have won ''11'' national titles.[[note]][=UConn=] is the only Division I school to have won the men's and women's NCAA titles in the same season--and the Huskies have done it ''twice''. The only other NCAA school to match the feat is Division II Central Missouri, and Northwestern College of Iowa is the only NAIA school to do it.[[/note]] This makes [=UConn=] the only school whose men's and women's teams have both won multiple D-I national titles. Among their rivals in both versions of the Big East are the...

* '''Kentucky Wildcats''' -- Coached by the great Adolph Rupp, aka "The Baron of the Bluegrass", from 1931–72. Won eight NCAA tournaments, including four under Rupp, and have appeared in more NCAA tournaments than any other program. Three of those titles came in just four seasons (1948–51). Two years after the third, the team was forced to suspend operations for a full year due to several of its players being implicated in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCNY_point-shaving_scandal CCNY point shaving scandal]]; while the other six programs punished by this scandal never fully recovered from the NCAA's "death penalty", Kentucky was almost unfazed. The Wildcats are the only program to have won national titles under five different coaches--Rupp, his successor Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and current coach John Calipari. They were the program that lost the 1966 final to the considerably less prestigious Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso, or UTEP), and that's the story in the movie ''Film/GloryRoad''. Before being passed by Kansas during the 2022 NCAA tournament, they were the all-time winningest team in college basketball, but reclaimed that distinction after KU was forced to vacate most of its 2017–18 wins. The Cats have also won more Southeastern Conference titles than any of the other teams... combined. The Kentucky women's team had been making some strides as well, briefly interrupted by off-court turmoil in 2015–16, though they've so far had a bad case of EveryYearTheyFizzleOut. The Kentucky women however did manage to achieve an incredible feat when they upset [[TheJuggernaut top-ranked (and eventual national champ) South Carolina]] in the 2022 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament Final by the score of 64–62.[[note]]Though it ''was'' the tournament championship game, South Carolina had already won the ''official'' SEC title. That conference determines its men's and women's basketball champions solely by regular-season conference record. The tournaments only determine the SEC's autobids to the men's and women's NCAA tournaments.[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': Tristen Newton, 5th-year senior,[[note]]Newton would normally have run out of college eligibility in 2021–22, but the NCAA ruled that the 2020–21 season, heavily disrupted by COVID-19, would not count against the eligibility of any individual in the NCAA's winter sports, including basketball.[[/note]] [=UConn=]

*** ''Most recent winners (2024)'': Dan Hurley, [=UConn=] (men); Dawn Staley, South Carolina (women)[[note]]Repeated from 2023, and also her fourth Naismith COY award in five seasons.[[/note]]

* '''South Carolina''': The three-time and current national champion Gamecocks emerged in the last half of the 2010s as the SEC's new kid on the block with double Hall of Fame player Dawn Staley as head coach. They've made every NCAA tournament since 2012, missing the Sweet Sixteen only once in that span, with six Final Fours and the 2017, '22, and '24 national titles as well, becoming the only team ever to beat [=UConn=] in a national title game in 2022. Not to mention they were the top-ranked team when COVID scuttled the 2020 tournament; Carolina claims a mythical national title from that season. Current WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson was the biggest star of the first title team, with Aliyah Boston, star of the '22 team, poised to join her in WNBA superstardom as the top overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft and that year's unanimous Rookie of the Year. Even after having to replace ''the entire starting lineup'' in 2023–24, the Gamecocks completed an unbeaten run to the natty by avenging one of their rare recent tastes of defeat--a loss to UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark (now the all-time D-I career scoring leader) and Iowa in the 2023 semifinals in which she had torched them for 41 points.

* '''Dawn Staley''': A Hall of Fame point guard who won multiple national awards at Virginia in the early '90s. She was drafted #9 overall in 1999 by the Charlotte Sting and was named a six-time All-Star, retiring after spending 2005-06 with the Comets; she also won three Olympic gold medals, serving as the U.S. flagbearer in 2004. While still an active player in the WNBA, Staley became head coach of Temple and saw solid success. In 2008, she was hired to be HC of South Carolina and built the program into a national power, winning two championships; she is the only person to win the Naismith Award as both player and coach and won a fourth gold medal coaching the U.S. Olympic team in 2020-21.

* '''South Carolina''': The three-time and current national champion Gamecocks emerged in the last half of the 2010s as the SEC's new kid on the block with double Hall of Fame player Dawn Staley as head coach. They've made every NCAA tournament since 2012, missing the Sweet Sixteen only once in that span, with six Final Fours and the 2017, '22, and '24 national titles as well, becoming the only team ever to beat [=UConn=] in a national title game in 2022. Not to mention they were the top-ranked team when COVID scuttled the 2020 tournament; Carolina claims a mythical national title from that season. Current WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson was the biggest star of the first title team, with Aliyah Boston, star of the 2020s teams, ready to join her in WNBA superstardom as the top overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft and that year's unanimous Rookie of the Year. Even after having to replace ''the entire starting lineup'' in 2023–24, the Gamecocks completed an unbeaten run to the natty by avenging one of their rare recent tastes of defeat--a loss to UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark (now the all-time D-I career scoring leader) and Iowa in the 2023 semifinals in which she had torched them for 41 points.

Notable teams include those listed below. However, the reigning national champions are none of these teams, but rather the LSU Tigers (which dropped "Lady" from their women's team names in the recent past).

* '''South Carolina''': The two-time national champion Gamecocks emerged in the last half of the 2010s as the SEC's new kid on the block with double Hall of Fame player Dawn Staley as head coach. They've made every NCAA tournament since 2012, missing the Sweet Sixteen only once in that span, with four Final Fours and the 2017 and '22 national titles as well, in the latter season becoming the only team ever to beat [=UConn=] in a national title game. Not to mention they were the top-ranked team when COVID scuttled the 2020 tournament; Carolina claims a mythical national title from that season. Current WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson was the biggest star of the first title team, with Aliyah Boston, star of the 2020s teams, ready to join her in WNBA superstardom as the top overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft and that year's unanimous Rookie of the Year. Even after having to replace ''the entire starting lineup'' in 2023–24, the Gamecocks are going into that season's championship game unbeaten. The Gamecocks suffered rare tastes of defeat when they were upset by Kentucky in the 2022 SEC Championship Game, and again when one UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark (now the all-time D-I career scoring leader) torched them for 41 points to lead Iowa to an upset in the 2023 NCAA semifinals, spoiling a previously unbeaten season. Carolina will have a chance to avenge that loss, with the Gamecocks facing Clark and Iowa for the 2024 title.

* '''UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark''': Though yet to formally enter the WNBA, as she just finished her college career at Iowa, Clark is possibly ''already'' the most famous woman to ever play basketball and all but guaranteed to be the Indiana Fever's #1 overall pick in 2024. A dominant long-range scorer and an equally skilled passer, Clark essentially rewrote the record books for college basketball; she holds the NCAA Division I records for both women and men in single-season and career points, plus single-season three-pointers, holds the D-I women's career points per game record, scored more points than any male or female player in a single NCAA tournament during Iowa's 2023 campaign (coming up short in the final against LSU), scored more career points in the NCAA women's tournament than any other player, and led the nation in points and/or assists in all four of her seasons at Iowa.[[note]]Once in points only, once in assists only, and twice in both.[[/note]] Perhaps even more critically, she contributed to a nigh-unprecedented interest in women's basketball, setting several attendance and viewership records throughout her career--notably, the average TV viewership for women's college basketball actually ''exceeded'' the men's game during her final regular season.

* '''UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark''': Though yet to formally enter the WNBA, as she is currently still playing college ball at Iowa, Clark is possibly ''already'' the most famous woman to ever play basketball and all but guaranteed to be the Indiana Fever's #1 overall pick in 2024. A dominant long-range scorer and an equally skilled passer, Clark essentially rewrote the record books for college basketball; she holds the NCAA Division I records for both women and men in single-season and career points plus single-season three-pointers, scored more points than any male or female player in NCAA tournament history in Iowa's 2023 campaign (coming up short in the final against LSU), and led the nation in points and/or assists in all four of her seasons at Iowa.[[note]]Once in points only, once in assists only, and twice in both.[[/note]] Perhaps even more critically, she contributed to a nigh-unprecedented interest in women's basketball, setting several attendance and viewership records throughout her career--notably, the average TV viewership for women's college basketball actually ''exceeded'' the men's game during her final regular season. %% Clark has now set the women's career threes record, but won't come close to the men's career record.

*** ''Most recent winners'': Zach Edey, C, junior[[labelnote:*]]US college students in general are classified in order of the number of years of attendance. In ascending order: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.[[/labelnote]], Purdue (men, 2023); UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark, PG, senior, Iowa (women, 2024)

*** ''Most recent winners'': Jerome Tang, Kansas State (men, 2023); Dawn Staley, South Carolina (women, 2024)[[note]]Repeated from 2023, and also her fourth Naismith COY award in five seasons.[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': Kim Caldwell,[[note]]female[[/note]] [[Film/WeAreMarshall Marshall]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': Edey

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Markquis Nowell, 5th-year senior,[[note]]Nowell would normally have run out of college eligibility in 2021–22, but the NCAA ruled that the 2020–21 season, heavily disrupted by COVID-19, would not count against the eligibility of any individual in the NCAA's winter sports, including basketball.[[/note]] Kansas State

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Marcus Sasser, senior, Houston

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Jalen Wilson, senior, Kansas

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Trayce Jackson-Davis, senior, Indiana

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Edey

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Clark[[note]]Repeated from 2022.[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Zia Cooke, senior, South Carolina

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Ashley [[MyNaymeIs Joens]], 5th-year senior, Iowa State[[note]]Three-time winner (2021–23). Also took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver to play in a fifth season.[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Maddy Siegrist, senior, Villanova

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Aliyah Boston, senior, South Carolina[[note]][[SerialEscalation Four-time winner]] (2020–23).[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': [=JuJu=] Watkins, SG, USC

** ''Most recent Division I winners (2023)'': Ben Vander Plas, Virginia (men);[[note]]Repeated from 2022, when he was playing for Ohio.[[/note]] Clark (women)[[note]]Went on to be named CSC's D-I Academic All-American of the Year across all sports.[[/note]]

* '''South Carolina''': The two-time national champion Gamecocks emerged in the last half of the 2010s as the SEC's new kid on the block with double Hall of Fame player Dawn Staley as head coach. They've made every NCAA tournament since 2012, missing the Sweet Sixteen only once in that span, with four Final Fours and the 2017 and '22 national titles as well, in the latter season becoming the only team ever to beat [=UConn=] in a national title game. Not to mention they were the top-ranked team when COVID scuttled the 2020 tournament; Carolina claims a mythical national title from that season. Current WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson was the biggest star of the first title team, with Aliyah Boston, star of the 2020s teams, ready to join her in WNBA superstardom as the top overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft and that year's unanimous Rookie of the Year. Even after having to replace ''the entire starting lineup'' in 2023–24, the Gamecocks entered the NCAA tournament unbeaten. The Gamecocks suffered rare tastes of defeat when they were upset by Kentucky in the 2022 SEC Championship Game, and again when one UsefulNotes/CaitlinClark (now the all-time D-I career scoring leader) torched them for 41 points to lead Iowa to an upset in the 2023 NCAA semifinals, spoiling a previously unbeaten season.

* '''Sabrina Ionescu''': Joined the league in 2020 as ''the'' face of American women's basketball, starting her pro career with the New York Liberty as the first overall pick out of Oregon and having already entered FirstNameBasis.[[note]]She's the only D-I player, male or female, with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in a college career. The aforementioned Caitlin Clark had a decent chance of joining her in that club in 2023–24, but looks to fall just short in boards.[[/note]] Unfortunately, her rookie season came to a premature end, as she went down with a severe ankle sprain in the Libs' third game in the COVID bubble. When the league came back to home markets in 2021, Sabrina didn't take long to have a signature moment. In her first game in Brooklyn, she sank a buzzer-beating game-winning three. Two games later, she became the youngest WNBA player to record a triple-double. However, she was still recovering from the previous season's injury, putting up solid but not spectacular numbers for the rest of the season. She still ended up with the league's top-selling jersey in 2021, also appearing in a couple of commercials for State Farm Insurance alongside NBA superstar PG Chris Paul. Finally fully healthy in 2022, Ionescu picked up where she left off after her 2020 injury, first becoming the most recent of four players with a second career triple-double (achieving that one while ''sitting out the fourth quarter'') and then becoming the second after Candace Parker (below) with two triple-doubles in a season and three in a career. And also becoming the first W player ever with [[MasterOfAll 500 points, 200 rebounds, and 200 assists]] in a season.[[note]]It doesn't sound like a lot, but keep in mind two facts: (1) the WNBA regular season was 36 games in 2022 (increased to 40 for 2023), compared to the NBA's 82, and (2) regulation WNBA games last only 40 minutes instead of the NBA's 48.[[/note]] In 2023, she set a new W single-season record for three-pointers (although the league's expansion to 40 games helped); blew away the field in the All-Star Game three-point contest, making all but two of her 27 final-round attempts for a record 37 points; and got her own signature shoe ''and'' apparel line from Nike, all being marketed as ''unisex'' -- [[https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39877975/why-sabrina-1s-taking-nba-shoe-game to the point that]] nearly 80 ''NBA'' players wore them at least once in that league's 2023–24 season.

* '''Sabrina Ionescu''': Joined the league in 2020 as ''the'' face of American women's basketball, starting her pro career with the New York Liberty as the first overall pick out of Oregon and having already entered FirstNameBasis.[[note]]She's the only D-I player, male or female, with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in a college career. The aforementioned Caitlin Clark had a decent chance of joining her in that club in 2023–24, but looks to fall just short in boards.[[/note]] Unfortunately, her rookie season came to a premature end, as she went down with a severe ankle sprain in the Libs' third game in the COVID bubble. When the league came back to home markets in 2021, Sabrina didn't take long to have a signature moment. In her first game in Brooklyn, she sank a buzzer-beating game-winning three. Two games later, she became the youngest WNBA player to record a triple-double. However, she was still recovering from the previous season's injury, putting up solid but not spectacular numbers for the rest of the season. She still ended up with the league's top-selling jersey in 2021, also appearing in a couple of commercials for State Farm Insurance alongside NBA superstar PG Chris Paul. Finally fully healthy in 2022, Ionescu picked up where she left off after her 2020 injury, first becoming the most recent of four players with a second career triple-double (achieving that one while ''sitting out the fourth quarter'') and then becoming the second after Candace Parker (below) with two triple-doubles in a season and three in a career. And also becoming the first W player ever with [[MasterOfAll 500 points, 200 rebounds, and 200 assists]] in a season.[[note]]It doesn't sound like a lot, but keep in mind two facts: (1) the WNBA regular season was 36 games in 2022 (increased to 40 for 2023), compared to the NBA's 82, and (2) regulation WNBA games last only 40 minutes instead of the NBA's 48.[[/note]] In 2023, she set a new W single-season record for three-pointers (although the league's expansion to 40 games helped); blew away the field in the All-Star Game three-point contest, making all but two of her 27 final-round attempts for a record 37 points; and got her own signature shoe ''and'' apparel line from Nike, all being marketed as ''unisex''.

*** ''Most recent winners'': Shaka Smart, Marquette (men, 2023); Staley (women, 2024)[[note]]Repeated from 2023.[[/note]]

*** ''Most recent winner (2024)'': Kelvin Sampson, Houston

*** ''Most recent winner (2023)'': Clark

*** ''Most recent winners'': Shaka Smart, Marquette (men, 2023); Staley (women, 2024)