The national Player of the Year race seems fairly open and shut. The nation’s best team is UConn, the Huskies are undefeated, and Sarah Strong leads them in points, rebounds, blocks, steals and assists. A transcendent force powering what could be a dynastic run.
While Strong’s credentials are unimpeachable, it’s hard to overlook the season Mikayla Blakes is having at Vanderbilt. The second-leading scorer (25.6 points per game) in the country behind Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, Blakes shoulders a massive burden for the Commodores, with the nation’s eighth-highest usage rate. Not only does Blakes carry the creation load — adding 4.6 assists per game to her scoring total — but she also fronts Vanderbilt’s pressure defense. Blakes’ 3.1 steals per game are 18th in the country.
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UConn’s dominance limits Strong’s overall counting stats. She averages six fewer minutes than Blakes, allowing the Vanderbilt guard to edge her in points and assists, even if Strong still holds the lead in rebounds, blocks and steals — 3.4 steals is a ridiculous number for a big. Strong can also afford to take a backseat to her teammates, with a deep and talented roster surrounding her, not that the sophomore sensation ever has a bad game.
Blakes, on the other hand, is the alpha and omega for the Commodores. They need brilliance from her to hang in the SEC. It’s a different lift than what is required from Strong, and Blakes has met the moment. Vanderbilt reached a top-five ranking this season for the first time since 2002 and is poised to be a first-weekend hosting team for the first time since the NCAA changed its format in 2015.
In the Commodores’ most recent win, over Kentucky, Blakes was unconscious. When the Wildcats defended her in single coverage, she blew by every defender en route to the basket, particularly when going to her right. Her jumper was cooking, and she made all four of her 3-point attempts from the right wing. She played all 40 minutes in the one-point road victory, tallied four steals and four assists. Blakes is the only player this season to post that combination of points, assists and steals against a power conference opponent.
Strong still leads Blakes in every all-in-one statistical indicator. When it comes to impacting winning, no one does it better than Strong, even if she has the perfect surrounding situation. But if Blakes continues to propel Vanderbilt’s success in the country’s best conference, that context has to come into consideration. Blakes is required to be a superstar every time the Commodores take the court. She makes a superhuman task look smooth, and she’s winning at a high clip, if not quite as frequently as Strong and UConn.
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Were the season to end today, Strong is still the easy choice. But in a month, if Vanderbilt is the SEC champion? Blakes’ case looks far more compelling.
|
Rank |
Team |
Previous rank |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
UConn |
1 |
|
2 |
UCLA |
2 |
|
3 |
South Carolina |
3 |
|
4 |
Texas |
4 |
|
5 |
Vanderbilt |
6 |
|
6 |
Louisville |
5 |
|
7 |
LSU |
7 |
|
8 |
Ohio State |
9 |
|
9 |
Michigan |
8 |
|
10 |
Oklahoma |
12 |
|
11 |
Duke |
17 |
|
12 |
Michigan State |
10 |
|
13 |
Ole Miss |
11 |
|
14 |
Baylor |
16 |
|
15 |
Maryland |
20 |
|
16 |
Kentucky |
14 |
|
17 |
TCU |
15 |
|
18 |
Iowa |
13 |
|
19 |
Princeton |
21 |
|
20 |
Tennessee |
18 |
|
21 |
Alabama |
19 |
|
22 |
Washington |
22 |
|
23 |
Texas Tech |
23 |
|
24 |
West Virginia |
24 |
|
25 |
Richmond |
NR |
Dropped out: NC State (25)
Also considered: USC, Georgia, Minnesota
Deepest team outside of Storrs
One of the most impressive elements of Texas’ early-season success was that the Longhorns were succeeding without their full rotation healthy. The team that won the Players’ Era championship over South Carolina and UCLA now has the fifth-ranked freshman of 2025 playing regular minutes, as if another double-digit scorer landed in Texas’ lap.
Aaliyah Crump was off to a sparkling start to her freshman season, scoring double digits in her first four games before suffering a stress fracture in her foot. Almost three months later, Crump is putting up points just as easily, but now in the SEC. She had a team-high seven field goals against LSU, scoring on drives, floaters and jumpers, including two triples. The Longhorns outscored the Tigers by 12 points in her 24 minutes.
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Crump completely changes Texas’ spacing because of her ability to shoot from distance. Other than Jordan Lee, Crump is the only Longhorn who regularly takes – and makes – 3-pointers, forcing defenses to think about where they set up. It was evident on a fast break in the first quarter when Crump ran to the corner and a defender had to stay on her, leaving an open lane for Ashton Judd.
Texas even tasked Crump with guarding Flau’jae Johnson, and Crump helped limit the senior to 3-for-14 shooting. The freshman comfortably navigated Johnson’s feints and fakes, earning a spot in the Longhorns’ closing five (she played the entire fourth quarter). How Vic Schaefer navigates his lineup decisions is an open question, but having options is generally a blessing, and Crump is proving to be another viable rotation piece.
Where did Iowa’s defense go?
Two weeks ago, the Hawkeyes had a defensive rating of 85.2 points allowed per 100 possessions, good for 52nd in the country. Considering Iowa had previously posted an above-average defense once in the last decade, it was quite the accomplishment for the young Hawkeyes. Then, Taylor McCabe tore her ACL, and Iowa has become unrecognizable on that end of the floor.
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“(McCabe) never blew an assignment,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said last week after the Hawkeyes played their first full game without her. “She very rarely got beat in transition, she didn’t switch when she wasn’t supposed to switch, she doubled when she was supposed to double, and that’s my biggest concern.”
Jensen surfaced those concerns after Iowa played USC, a middling offensive team at best. The problems only exacerbated against UCLA and Minnesota, two more losses that have removed the Hawkeyes from Big Ten title consideration and could put their NCAA Tournament-hosting status in jeopardy. They’re conceding 120.3 points per 100 possessions during this stretch. They’re not forcing turnovers or rebounding on either end. Opponents are shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 49 percent on 3s. Every facet of Iowa’s defense has crumbled.
The Hawkeyes are a relatively young group, and these minutes will be important learning experiences for the likes of Ava Heiden, Chit-Chat Wright and Addie Deal. For now, the defensive regression is a painful reversal of how Iowa built itself up to start the season. Perhaps the foundation was more fragile than originally anticipated.
Kim Caldwell isn’t sugarcoating anything
After briefly sitting atop the SEC with a 6-0 conference record, the Lady Volunteers have seen things go south. First, Tennessee lost at home by 15 to unranked Mississippi State, trailing for the entire second half. Then, the Lady Vols barely avoided their largest loss in program history against UConn, falling by 30 points. They followed that by being taken into overtime by Georgia, and then they definitively set the record for the worst loss in Tennessee history, getting routed by 43 points at South Carolina.
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Coach Kim Caldwell was blunt in her assessment Sunday after Tennessee’s noncompetitive showing against the Gamecocks. “A lot of quit in us tonight,” she said, “and that has been something that is consistent with our team. … Things don’t go our way, and I have a team that’ll just quit on you.”
Setting aside its season-opening defeat to NC State, Tennessee’s five losses have come by an average of 27 points. The quality of the opponent is a factor, as UCLA, UConn and South Carolina were top-five teams when they met. But Texas, LSU and Vanderbilt — each of whom has sat in the top five at some point this season — remain on the Lady Vols’ schedule, so this season has the potential to get even worse.
The loss against South Carolina showed Tennessee’s lack of flexibility. Its only source of offense was drive and kick, and once the Gamecocks went into a zone, the ball movement completely evaporated, and all the Lady Vols could produce were pull-up 3-pointers. They attempted 21 total 2-pointers (16 below their season average) out of their 65 field goals and earned five free-throw attempts. With that kind of shot distribution, Tennessee is far too reliant on 3-point variance, which has resulted in some bleak outcomes.
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Games to watch
(All games ET)
Texas at Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, SECN+
South Carolina at LSU, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC
Michigan State at Michigan, 4 p.m. Sunday, FS1
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
UCLA Bruins, Tennessee Lady Volunteers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Vanderbilt Commodores, Iowa Hawkeyes, Connecticut Huskies, Texas Longhorns, Women’s College Basketball
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