The Big 12 Conference women’s basketball season is complete. It was one of the best on record and it ended with ESPN Gameday taking its road show to Fort Worth for the first time.
On Wednesday, the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament begins on that buzz-worthy glass floor and a champion will be crowned. TCU is seeking its second straight tournament title after wrapping up its second straight regular-season crown.
But, before that, it’s time to put together our Big 12 Conference women’s basketball superlatives for the season. Later this week, we’ll release our first team, second team and other awards for the campaign.
Let’s dig in.
Player of the Year: Olivia Miles, G, TCU
Stats: 20.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 6.7 apg, 1.9 spg.
Arguments could be made for Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, who did some incredible things this season, especially through January.
But Miles was the pick. She saw what Hailey Van Lith did last season as a transfer. She passed on the WNBA, where she likely would have been at worst a Top 5 pick, and transferred to the Horned Frogs and built on what Van Lith did last season.
Miles was a four-time Big 12 Player of the Week going into the final weekend of the season. She was on the Big 12 Starting Five seven times. On Feb. 17 she was named the AP Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. She was also a USBWA Player of the Week three times.
Her game against Baylor two weeks ago was a distillation of her explosiveness. Her 40 points were the most in a game by any Division I player this season against a ranked team. She was the first player in NCAA history to make 10 threes against a Top 25 team on the road and is one of just two players ever to connect at least 10 times from distance against a ranked team in any game. She also set the Big 12 single-season record for triple-doubles.
But what stood out this season was how TCU’s offensive system not only elevated her as a scored but as a facilitator. She’s the biggest reason why the Horned Frogs defended their regular-season Big 12 crown.
Freshman of the Year: Jaliya Davis, F, Kansas
Stats: 21.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.7 spg.
Just as it was with BYU’s Delaney Gibb last season, there is little reason to complicate this. Going into the season’s final weekend, Davis had won the Big 12 Freshman of the Week award seven straight times. Not seven overall, which would be impressive enough. But seven straight weeks, all of which came during conference play. That’s astounding.
She’s one of the biggest reasons Kansas has remained on the NCAA Tournament bubble the final weeks even as its Big 12 record sits below .500. The Jayhawks will need a run in the Big 12 Tournament to get it done. Davis will be one of the players to fuel it. The future looks bright in Lawrence.
Newcomer of the Year: Taliah Scott, G, Baylor
Stats: 20.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.2 spg.
Scott missed nearly all last season at Auburn with an injury. She transferred to Baylor and made an immediate impact, as she was named in Big 12 Women’s Player of the Week twice going into the final weekend. She was also named to the Big 12 Starting Lineup seven times.
Baylor coach Nicki Collen was clear before the season that the Bears needed an offensive boost in the backcourt to help create space for holdovers Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Bella Fontelroy and Jana Van Gytenbeek. Scott not only did that but emerged as the team’s leading scorer.
This was close. I could have chosen Miles here, but I don’t like doubling up, though she’s worthy of the award. TCU’s Marta Suarez came in and impacted TCU in a meaningful way. Snudda Collins did the same for Texas Tech. Gabby Elliott did the same at Arizona State. All were Top 10 scorers in the conference. It’s the nature of the transfer era. The competition was incredible. Scott was my pick. My guess is the coaches might have a different pick.
Coach of the Year: Krista Gerlich, Texas Tech
I had to wait until the final game. I’ve had Texas Tech’s Krista Gerlich in pencil since January. Colorado’s JR Payne made a late run. I could have turned to Oklahoma State’s Jacie Hoyt for the second straight year. TCU’s Mark Campbell is worthy after back-to-back Big 12 regular season titles. I can make a case for Mark Kellogg at West Virginia, too.
But I landed on Gerlich. The Lady Raiders are going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. She returned to her alma mater to change that. There have been some false starts in recent years. But she finally got the chemistry right with this team.
The Lady Raiders were one of the last undefeated teams in the country, winning their first 19 games. They remained ranked most of the season and exceeded expectations. Texas Tech was 13th in the preseason coaches poll. I admit that I felt they would be a bottom eight team in the league. Texas Tech ended up the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. It was a terrific turnaround for the Lady Raiders and for Gerlich.
Defensive Player of the Year: Jordan Harrison, G, West Virginia
Stats: 12.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.2 apg, 3.2 spg.
Kellogg knows how to pick them. He recruited Harrison at Stephen F. Austin and in her first season she was the WAC Freshman of the Year. She followed her coach to WVU and in the past three seasons has been instrumental in installing Kellogg’s system, which includes his own version of “Press Virginia.”
I got a first-hand look at how destructive Harrison can be when I covered WVU’s game at Iowa State on Jan. 13. She had seven steals in that game. She was a 5-foot-6 defensive wrecking ball that afternoon. The Cyclones didn’t know what hit them.
She’s the only player in the Big 12 to average more than three steals per game. She has a Big 12 high 90 steals, 18 more than Arizona’s Noelani Cornfield, who is a high-level defensive player in her own right. Harrison is also one of only 20 players in Division I with three or more steals. Harrison takes a bow in her senior year as the league’s best defensive player. I’m interested to see if the coaches agree.
