New day, new award -- same great Caitlin Clark. A day after receiving Naismith Player of the Year honors, Iowa's Caitlin Clark was named the AP Player of the Year on Thursday. She received 20 votes from a 28-member panel in a vote that was conducted before the NCAA Tournament began.
Clark, a junior guard from West Des Moines, Iowa, averaged 27.3 points per game, third-best in D-I, while also leading the nation in assists per game (8.6) and three-pointers made per game (3.5). She's the first Division I women's basketball player to ever score 900+ points and distribute 300+ assists in the same season; her 984 points are sixth-most all time Division I history (and 17 shy of Megan Gustafson's Iowa single-season record of 1001 points) and her 311 assists is a Big Ten single-season record.
Clark is the second Iowa women's player to earn AP Player of the Year honors after center Megan Gustafson also received the honor in 2019. Clark and Gustafson are also the only Big Ten players to win the award since its inception in 1995. Center Luka Garza is the Hawkeye men's only winner of the award, winning in 2021.
South Carolina's Aliyah Boston took home AP Player of the Year honors last season. She also received the other eight votes from the voting panel this season. Boston repeated as a first-team All-American this season, but her averages of 13.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game on the #1, undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks didn't match last season's productivity.
“There’s so many great players, more than just me and (Aliyah),” Clark told the AP. “You can go on and on and list the tremendous players. I think that’s really good for our game when there’s a lot of great players. That’s what is going to help this game grow more than anything else.”
Clark was notified of the honor while visiting the University of Iowa Children's Hospital with her teammates. During a video that featured many of the children in the hospital congratulating her on her impressive season, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder appeared on screen to reveal that Clark had been named AP Player of the Year.
“I’m there for inspiring the next generation and being there for the people that you know are going through a hard time,” said Clark, who grew up in Iowa. “Being able to give joy to people that watch you play and watch your team play is amazing.”
Clark and Boston will face off on Friday for Iowa and South Carolina's hotly-anticipated Final Four matchup in Dallas, Texas. The game is scheduled to tip off at approximately 8:30 PM CT and will be televised on ESPN.
