Ranking the top 25 players in women's college basketball, version 2.0
Rhyne Howard still leads the way, but Stanford, South Carolina and UConn each put three players on our midseason list of the country's best players.
1. Rhyne Howard, Kentucky (JR)
2. Dana Evans, Louisville (SR)
3. Haley Jones, Stanford (SO)
4. Aari McDonald, Arizona (SR)
5. Charli Collier, Texas (JR)
6. Paige Bueckers, Connecticut (FR)
7. Michaela Onyenwere, UCLA (SR)
8. Elissa Cunane, North Carolina State (JR)
9. Caitlin Clark, Iowa (FR)
25.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 6.5 apg
Sure, Clark was the fourth-rated recruit in the 2020 class, but did anyone outside of Iowa City expect this kind of scoring output this soon? Confident in an up-tempo offense perfectly suited to her fast-style play, Clark was Iowa's catalyst from day one with 27 points in her debut. Less than two months into her career, Clark, along with Michigan's Naz Hillmon, is a front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year. She has already had four 30-point games and a triple-double, quite a bar for the rest of her long career.
10. NaLyssa Smith, Baylor (JR)
11. Naz Hillmon, Michigan (JR)
25.7 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 64.2% FG
She assumed the mantle of Kelsey Griffin, Megan Gustafson and other Big Ten frontcourt players responsible for putting up ridiculous numbers. Among those who have played more than three games this season, she ranks the top 10 nationally in points, rebounds and field goal percentage. She has put up at least 20 points in all but one game and at least 10 rebounds in all but two games.
12. Aliyah Boston, South Carolina (SO)
13. Arella Guirantes, Rutgers (SR)
22.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 5.4 apg
She leads Rutgers in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. So there's that. Rutgers is thus far struggling to provide consistent support in Big Ten games, but the guard who could have gone to the WNBA after last season continues to improve her stock. Forget the team leads, she ranks in the top five in the conference in all of the aforementioned statistics -- and she's a more than respectable 12th in the league in rebounding.
14. Zia Cooke, South Carolina (SO)
15. Ashley Joens, Iowa State (JR)
16. Rickea Jackson, Mississippi State (SO)
17. N'Dea Jones, Texas A&M (SR)
18. Fran Belibi, Stanford (SO)
19. Chelsea Dungee, Arkansas (SR)
20. Christyn Williams, Connecticut (JR)
21. Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Connecticut (JR)
22. Ashley Owusu, Maryland (SO)
18.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 4.9 apg
Despite winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Owusu still had something to learn about consistency. She started just half of Maryland's games in 2019-20. Consider the lesson mastered. Owusu is now the catalyst on the second-highest scoring team in the country and has scored in double figures in every Terps game this season. She has become even more important and has played even better since star freshman Angel Reese went down with a foot injury in the fourth game, dropping Maryland to a seven-player rotation.
23. Kiana Williams, Stanford (SR)
24. Rennia Davis, Tennessee (SR)
25. Destanni Henderson, South Carolina (JR)
