Six players to watch in the 2024 women’s NCAA Tournament

The ladies’s NCAA Event’s Spherical of 64 ideas off on Friday, and the sport has arguably by no means been stronger. Whereas Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is rightfully the headliner, she’s not the one participant deserving your consideration.

Listed below are six others to look at this March.

Observe: NCAA Event area and seed quantity are in parentheses.

Cameron Brink, Stanford (Portland 4, No. 2)

The Cardinal’s 6-foot-4 ahead is within the dialog for the perfect defensive participant within the match. This season, Brink led the nation in blocks per sport (3.5). Per Her Hoop Stats, amongst 2,081 gamers who common a minimum of 20 minutes per sport, her 24.4 p.c whole rebound charge is the perfect within the nation. The Associated Press First-Team All-American ahead additionally averaged 17.8 factors per sport on 51.2 p.c capturing, resulting in Brink posting the highest player efficiency rating (46.7) this season. 

Paige Bueckers, UConn (Portland 3, No. 3)

Bueckers returned for the 2023-24 season like she by no means left. After suffering a torn ACL that pressured her to overlook the whole 2022-23 season, Bueckers led UConn in scoring this season and ranked twelfth within the nation (21.3 factors per sport). The 2021 AP Participant of the Yr is capturing 42.4 p.c from past the arc, coming into March Insanity. Within the Large East Event, Bueckers shot 12-of-24 from deep (50 p.c) and averaged 27.7 factors per sport.

Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame (Albany 1, No. 2)

Excellent freshman guard Hidalgo wasted no time acclimating to the school sport. She scored 31 factors in her debut in opposition to South Carolina on Nov. 6 and 20 or extra factors in 21 of her first 23 video games, together with a 10-game stretch in convention play from Jan. 11-Feb. 11. As robust as Hidalgo has been offensively, her disruptiveness on the defensive finish actually makes her particular. Hidalgo leads the NCAA with 4.6 steals per sport this season, propelling her to say the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year {hardware}.

Aneesah Morrow, LSU (Albany 2, No. 3)

Angel Reese rightfully will get the headlines for the Tigers, however overlook Morrow at your personal peril. Having proved herself as one of many sport’s high scorers at DePaul throughout the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Morrow transferred to LSU this previous offseason for an opportunity to steer this system to consecutive NCAA titles. She’s masterfully match into LSU’s second-ranked scoring offense, selecting and selecting her moments to be aggressive. Morrow is a double-double machine with 20 this season, together with 4 in her previous 5 video games. In her one earlier NCAA Event look, Morrow had 28 factors, 17 rebounds, 4 blocks and two steals in an 88-57 loss to Dayton in 2022. 

Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina (Albany 1, No. 1)

It speaks to how proficient the Gamecocks are that it is tough to single out only one participant on the one undefeated staff within the nation. Heart Kamilla Cardoso is a difference-maker at heart, guard Raven Johnson is a superb perimeter defender, and freshman Milaysia Fulwiley carved out an important position for herself within the rotation regardless of solely taking part in 18.7 minutes per sport. Nevertheless, when a participant makes practically 50 p.c of her three-point makes an attempt, as Paopao does, it is unattainable not to concentrate.

After three seasons at Oregon, Paopao transferred to South Carolina throughout the offseason and has shot 47.1 p.c from deep on 5 makes an attempt per sport. Per data from Her Hoop Stats, 55.4 p.c of her shot makes an attempt are from past the arc. The Gamecocks needs to be in nice form if these photographs proceed to fall.

JuJu Watkins, USC (Portland 3, No. 1)

One other excellent freshman, Watkins led the Pac-12 with 27 factors per sport, together with a 51-point effort at Stanford on Feb. 2. She’s glorious at drawing contact, with her 8.2 free throw attempts per game probably the most within the nation. At 6-foot-2, Watkins has the size to be an element on the glass, with seven 10-rebound video games. Her measurement additionally helps on the defensive finish; this season, Watkins is averaging 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocks per sport.